(americano) Despite White House claims about a rebounding economy, both Latinos and African-Americans are suffering the effects of a jobless “recovery.” The Government reported that last month overall unemployment dropped to 9.7 percent from 10 percent but the data shows a rise in Latino and African-American unemployment. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Latino households in January was an estimated 12.6 percent, compared to 8.7 percent for non-Latino Whites. While making up 15 percent of the country’s population (not including Puerto Rico), the 2,849,000 Latinos who were unemployed in January 2010 represented 30.6 percent of the total unemployed in the US. Since January of last year, the unemployment rate for Latinos rose from 9.9 to 12.6 percent. It was, however, little changed from December 2009. Among Latino adults (ages 20 and over), the unemployment rate for Latino women last month was 11.5 percent, compared to 13.8 percent for Latino men. For young Latinos (ages 16 to 19), the unemployment rate was 37.2 percent. These unemployment numbers actually are a low estimation of reality. These statistics do not usually reflect the underemployed and those who are not actively participating in the unemployment system. The numbers are even higher in the undocumented immigrant community, workers who were never part of the government unemployment system. An investigation funded by The Open Society Institute and disseminated by New America Media and The Final Call shows that the stimulus bill President Obama signed last year did little to slow the rise in African-Americans and Latino unemployment.

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