One of the economic goals of the United States is to maximize the number of Americans with jobs, which is the same as saying to promote low unemployment rate, where the economy operates at its full employment level. According to Rafal Bostic, “that’s the way you get to the largest maximum employment. That’s the way you get to the strongest, most resilient economy.” The unemployment rate is one of the primary economic indicators use to gauge how an economy is doing. It is particularly viewed as important because it measures a level of hardship suffered by those unemployed.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a branch of the United States Department of Labor. It is responsible for fact-finding on U.S. labor economics and statistics for U.S. government. After reading chapters 6, you will explore the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (Bls.gov) for information to complete this discussion post.

This exercise will help improve your data fluency and analysis skills. Specifically, you will learn to work with original sources to find data and then make inferences about the economy based on that data.

Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (BLS.gov) and find the unemployment rate (use seasonally adjusted numbers) from 2018 through 2020 for the following groups (Hint: Start Link (Links to an external site.)):

From Table A-2

• White
• Black/African American
• Asian

From Table A-3

• Hispanic/Latino ethnicity

1. Describe what happens to the unemployment rate between the groups over the years. Based strictly on this information, did the labor market improve or worsen during this period?
2. Now assume that you have been consulted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to explain the rate disparities between the groups. Discuss what your explanation will be.
3. Are there any policies or laws that led to these disparities?
4. What recommendations would you give to the Bureau for dismantling this policy?