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The Black unemployment rate is nearly double the national rate and twice as high as that for Whites, even as the economy added 222,000 jobs in June, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday.

Unemployment among Blacks was 9.5 percent in June, down from 10.2 percent in May, the report shows. Even with the slight improvement, the Black employment rate remains the highest in the country, as the overall national unemployment rate in June dipped to 5.3 percent, down from 5.5 percent in May. The rates for Whites at 4.6 percent, Asians at 3.8 percent, and Hispanics at 6.6 percent saw little change in June.

The unyielding Black unemployment rate has been a thorn in the side of President Barack Obama, who has pushed job creation and expansions before an apathetic Congress.

The president touched on economic disparities in employment opportunities for Blacks during his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney in the wake of the massacre at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C.

“Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even when we don’t realize it, so that we’re guarding against not just racial slurs, but we’re also guarding against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal,” the president said.

We hope hiring officers and employers will take heed of the president’s words.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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