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Friday, October 30, 2026News that matters to Black communities

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The Record

Tanish James's columns, for members: The Argument every Monday, a position on a question that matters, and The Numbers every Thursday, the data behind it. The opening of each is free to read.

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The Numbers

Our best month in 20 months was worse than their worst

Here is the number I want you to carry into the weekend. In the 20 months of official jobs data published since January 2025, the best month Black workers had was an unemployment rate of 6.0%. The worst month white workers had was 3.9%. Our best was 2.1 points worse than their worst. That is not a bad stretch. That is two different labor markets, and only one of them gets talked about.