The number of African Americans who were employed in the United States in October 2014 dropped by 41,000; and the number of African-Americans not participating in the labor force increased by 114,000

The number of employed African Americans 16 years and older decreased by 41,000 to 16,940,000 in October 2014 from 16,981,000 in September 2014. The participation rate dipped to 61.4% in October from 61.7% in September. African Americans who did not have a job and did not actively seek one in the past four weeks increased by 114,000 to 11,964,000 in October from 11,850,000 in September. In October 2014, the civilian non-institutional population for African Americans was 30,969,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Of that 30,969,000, 19,005,000 - or 61.4% - participated in the labor force, meaning they either had or job or had actively sought one in the last four weeks. Of the 19,005,000 who did participate in the labor force, 16,940,000 had a job and 2,065,000 did not have a job but actively sought one. The 2,065,000 are the unemployed. They equaled 10.9% of the labor force — or an unemployment rate of 10.9%. This unemployment rate is 87.9% higher than the unemployment rate of all Americans of 5.8%.