By Matt Cover
January 4, 2013
CNS News

(CNSNews.com) – Government unemployment numbers for December showed that while the general unemployment rate remained flat at 7.8 percent, unemployment for women and African-Americans rose despite an economy that created 155,000 jobs.

Unemployment for women rose to 7.3 percent in December from 7.0 percent while the rate for African-Americans rose sharply to 14.0 percent from 13.2 percent in November.

Unemployment among African Americans has remained quite high throughout the sluggish economic recovery of the past several years, despite the steady decline in overall unemployment in the economy generally.

The number of employed African Americans actually fell in December – a month that typically sees a spike in job creation as employers add temporary positions to handle the holiday shopping season.

The number of employed African Americans fell from nearly 16 million to 15.8 million in December.

By contrast, the unemployment rate for Whites remained nearly a full point below the national average at 6.9 percent in December.