Economic Report President

high, at 8.9 percent for blacks and 7.2 percent for Hispanics in 1998,compared with 3.9 percent for whites.The tight labor market of the 1990s appears to be helping evenyoung minority workers, who suffered greater wage declines than othersin the 1980s and who typically have extraordinarily high unemploymentrates. By 1998 the unemployment rate among black youthaged 16-24 was 20.7 percent, lower than in any year since the dataseries began in 1973. And the unemployment rate among young Hispanicsaged 16-24 dropped 3.7 percentage points between 1993 and1998 (Chart 3-7). Moreover, the median real wages of young blackmales aged 16-24 rose by 6.2 percent in 1998 alone.Chart 3-7 Unemployment Rates of Persons Aged 16-24 by Race and EthnicityUnemployment rates among young people have fallen since the early 1990s, althoughblacks continue to have more than twice the unemployment rate of whites.Percent40Black30Hispanic2010White01973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997Source: Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics).IMMIGRANTSForeign-born workers often face challenges in the labor market thatnative-born workers do not: weaker English skills, a lack of networksfor finding jobs, and unfamiliarity with American institutions andworkplace culture sometimes create barriers to their obtaining goodjobs. Foreign-born workers, including those from Mexico and CentralAmerica (who account for about 30 percent of new immigrants since1980), are less likely to have completed high school than are Americanbornworkers. However, there is wider variation in educational attainmentamong immigrants than among natives; whereas many immigrantshave minimal schooling, many others have completed college.109