Indicator 8.2: Unemployment Rates

Figure 8.2. Unemployment rates for persons ages 16 and over, by race/ethnicity: 1994 to 2003

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, March Current Population Survey (CPS), 1994 to 2003.

---

Unemployment rates for American Indians/Alaska Natives did not significantly decrease between 1994 and 2003.

Between 1994 and 2003, the unemployment rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives, ages 16 and over, fluctuated but did not significantly increase or decrease overall. The unemployment rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives has remained higher than the rate for the general population. In 2003, the American Indian/Alaska Native unemployment rate (15 percent) was 9 percentage points higher than the general population's rate (6 percent). Whites, Asian/ Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics had lower unemployment rates than American Indians/Alaska Natives in 2003 (5, 6, and 8 percent, respectively, vs. 15 percent). In 2003, the American Indian/Alaska Native unemployment rate was three times as high as the unemployment rate for the White population.

View Table 8.2