More than half of the black male high school dropouts in the United States are unemployed

While the current 12-month average unemployment for black males between 16 and 25 without a high school diploma was 51.6%, the equivalent number for white males was 25.6% — half the number for black males. For Hispanic males between 16 and 25 without a high school diploma, the unemployment rate was 23.3% — actually less than the rate for white males. For females, the numbers are a little bit better: black female high school dropouts between 15 and 25 had an unemployment rate of 45.2%, compared to white female dropouts at 21.6% and Hispanic females at 28.8%. By contrast, the unemployment rate for black male college graduates was 6.7%, while it was 5.9% for black female college graduates. For Hispanic male college graduates, the unemployment rate was 4.7%, while it was 5.8% for Hispanic female college graduates. For white male college graduates, the rate was 3.6%, while the unemployment rate for white female college graduates was 3.8%.