The March jobs report can be summarized in one word: dismal. In March only 88,000 jobs were created, well below estimates of 200,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 7.6 percent — the lowest rate in more than four years.
However, the rate declined because the labor participation rate, or the number of people actively searching for a job, declined to 63.3 percent, a level not seen since May 1979. About 496,000 people left the labor pool.
Black teens a bright spot?
Despite anemic job growth in March, one group saw a significant drop in unemployment: black teens.
The unemployment rate for black teens — youth ages 16 to 19 — fell by nearly 10 points from 43.1 percent in February to 33.8 percent in March. This was the lowest black teen unemployment rate since March 2009 when the rate was 33.5 percent.
This is great news right?
Not so fast. One month does not make a trend.
May be just a blip on the radar screen
“The BLS never makes a big deal with any month of data. If we get several months where it falls or the number really drops then that would be telling something,” cautions Gary Steinberg, Spokesperson at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“It’s hard to know whether this is a blip on the screen or not. We must look at the report over time to determine that. What we do know is that black teen unemployment is much higher than white teen unemployment and should be unacceptable to this society,” says Michael Wenger, Senior Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. His group released the report “Further To Go: Job Creation in African American Communities” in early April.
At 33.8 percent, black teen unemployment remains by far the highest of any group. White teen unemployment rose slightly in March to 22.5 percent from 22.1 percent in February.
However, the sharp decline in black teen unemployment in March may be a sign that things are turning for black teens, according to William Rodgers, Professor and Chief Economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
He notes the employment population ratio for black teens has increased from 15.2 percent in March 2012 to 18.2 percent in March 2013, which suggests more black youth are getting jobs. The labor participation rate for black teens also increased slightly in March to 27.6 percent. This is in sharp contrast to the decline in unemployment among whites and black adults, which is due to a decline in labor force participation.
Rodgers says we should look at the data cautiously since black teen unemployment is nearly three times the size of overall black unemployment, currently at 13.3 percent.
Black teens are also more likely to work in retail, health care and leisure and hospitality industries, which pay lower wages.
Wenger says unemployment is at a crisis level for black teens. “These are formative years for employment and if you have kids at that age not being able to find employment what does this say about their future?” Wenger laments.
How will the sequester impact teen jobs?
The automatic spending cuts known as the sequester may also affect youth programs.
According to the non-profit, National Human Services Assembly, the $85 billion in cuts may impact youth programs such as Workforce Investment Act Youth Training Programs and Jobs Corps, to name a few.
Wenger says there is a role for government to spur job creation for youth.
He says the government should increase job training programs and target growth industries of the future such as health, education, and construction. “We need to raise awareness about how critical this is and how it will impact us in the future,” Wenger says.
Shartia Brantley is a producer and on-air reporter at CNBC. Follow Shartia on Twitter at @shartiabrantley
Editor’s Note: TheGrio contacted McDonald’s and Burger King, both big employers of teens, for a response to the jobs report. McDonald’s refused to provide any stats on their employment levels and Burger King did not respond to the request.