We Have an Effective Black Unemployment Rate Exceeding 13%. If the missing participants are added to the unemployed, they are not employed, then we have well over 9.3 million unemployed workers.If we see this many African American Unemployed, and their unemployment rate has not improved under the First African American President, the 'only' way to go is to improve the opportunities for Black workers and all workers.

We need more than hope. We need change.

We are Missing Up to 1.5 Million Black Participants. If we had the same level of African American Participation as we had during the final year of the Reagan. Clinton, or George W. Bush Presidencies right now we would have up to 1.469 million more participants, employed or unemployed, right now than we have. We already know from prior columns that we are missing over 10 million participants. How is this economy working for the Black Community?

Every month this column produces an article on the Employment Situation Report. This column has fostered other columns, including the "Four President at ___ months" column. That column identifies the level of jobs created, part-time and full-time, as well as the participation rate and unemployment rate. That column goes into further detail regarding the impact of the participation rate on the unemployment rate and what the "effective unemployment rate" is for the country. The effective unemployment rate combines the number if unemployed plus the "missing participants" that are neither working nor unemployed.The "Four Presidents at 90 Months" column revealed that the Unadjusted Participation rate was 63.36% with the Official U-3 Unemployment rate being 5.14%. The effective unemployment rate could be reported between 10.41% and 13.10%

Recently Presidential Candidate Donald Trump was addressing the levels of unemployment within the African American Population of the United States. It became obvious that we needed to address the same data as it pertains to the African American Community, or Black Community, and examine the unemployment and participation rates for this community. The problem is that where the data reveals the number of part-time and full-time job levels for the population as a whole, it does not break down the part-time and full-time job numbers for the African American community.

The title of this column is an obvious reference to the Black Live Matter movement. If we are to see improvement in our race relations we have to see improvement in the employment situation for all people who want to work.

We have seen the African American Workforce Population Grow by 4 Million Since July 2008. The problem is that only roughly 2 million of these new workers have found jobs. The black participation rate has dropped to under 62%. The problem is even more noticeable .