April 2003 was the sixth consecutive month that unemployment of black Americans exceeded 10 percent. In April 2000, the black unemployment rate had fallen to 7 percent, the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping this figure. White unemployment was 5.2% last month and unemployment of Latinos was 7.5%. Explanations for the sharp rise in black unemployment range from employers, with fewer jobs available, being "more choosy" and "more likely to discriminate" to the fact that black employees are concentrated in depressed industries such as transportation, retail and hotels.
See "Race Matters", Kimberly Blanton, The Boston Globe, May 22, 2003