> October numbers are missing due to the federal government shutdown, noted in the chart title.

Ah, I failed the chart title reading comprehension test. Thanks for clearing that up.

unboiled

October numbers are missing due to the federal government shutdown, noted in the chart title. BLS couldn’t collect the data.

As for revisions: BLS does revise monthly employment data, but unemployment rates by race are typically stable in revisions. The seasonal adjustment factors can shift slightly, but a 6.4% → 8.3% change is far too large to be explained by statistical revision. That’s a real 1.9 percentage point increase.

For comparison, the 2008 financial crisis saw Black unemployment rise about 5 percentage points over 18 months. A 1.9pp increase in one year is significant and won’t be revised away.

Politics_And_Law

BLS Reality Check: Unemployment by Race (Seasonally Adjusted)

Yermin

October numbers are missing due to the federal government shutdown, noted in the chart title. BLS couldn’t collect the data.
As for revisions: BLS does revise monthly employment data, but unemployment rates by race are typically stable in revisions. The seasonal adjustment factors can shift slightly, but a 6.4% → 8.3% change is far too large to be explained by statistical revision. That’s a real 1.9 percentage point increase.
For comparison, the 2008 financial crisis saw Black unemployment rise about 5 percentage points over 18 months. A 1.9pp increase in one year is significant and won’t be revised away.