Black unemployment in Minnesota, which was third-highest in the nation in 2010, has been falling fast, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Only in the past few months has DEED started posting updates to this data, in part because it is complicated. The sample size for unemployment rate by race and ethnicity is very small at the state level, and the state doesn't publish the monthly numbers because it doesn't have much faith in them. The lines above reflect the 12-month moving average, which is more reliable.
Black unemployment is still way higher than white unemployment, but it has fallen by more than half in Minnesota in the last three years.
The state had the third-highest black unemployment rate in the nation in 2010, at 22 percent. By 2012 it was ranked 23rd, at 13.8 percent, and according to the latest data it fell to 10.4 percent in August.
Hispanic unemployment, for some reason, has been rising in recent months.
I'm not sure how to explain either trend. Open to ideas.
