Ohio's Bizzyblog Spots An Important Nugget: U.S. Black Unemployment Fell Sharply

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Bizzyblog's Tom Blumer is highlighting a positive development in the just-released U.S. employment data: The jobless rate among black Americans and teens has declined. Still too high. But still a needed move in the right direction.

Bizzyblog mentions the news in a long takeout on the overall jobs picture, and wonders if employers who formerly would have hired undocumented aliens are now employing native-born citizens. He theorizes the failure of an immigration bill in Congress last month was a factor that could have resulted in the dip:

"Here are a couple of interesting numbers -- black/African American and teenaged unemployment fell pretty sharply -- from 8.5% to 8% and 15.8% to 15.2% respectively. Both percentages are still higher than anyone would like to see them. But, as noted here previously, those figures have, up to now, stayed stubbornly high relative to previous economic expansions. Could late June's shamnesty-bill failure have influenced this by making employers less likely to hire illegals, forcing them to find relatively unskilled citizens to do the work instead."

The data pose other questions: How will the fact that more lower income minorities have jobs impact social issues such as crime, prison construction, health care, child support, drug abuse and on and on? Employment equates with stability. Simply put, if people can find work, they are probably less likely to find trouble.