Unemployment rates are a relatively timely indicator of current local economic conditions, particularly recent changes in the employment landscape that reflect the overall health of the economy.

In 2018-22, 8.1% of African American and 8.0% of Latino residents in Worcester County were unemployed, compared to 4.0% of Asian and 4.9% of White residents. This is in line with disparities observed at the state and national levels, but the unemployment rates for Latinos in Worcester and the state are higher than the nation as whole.

Since 2008-12, the unemployment rate declined seven percentage points among Latino workers in Worcester County, four percentage points among both Asian and African American workers, and three percentage points among White residents.

While traditional explanations for employment rate disparities focus on education and training gaps, White people tend to be employed at higher rates than Black and Latino people at every education level (high school, some college, bachelor's degree, etc.). This has led many researchers to focus on labor market discrimination as a primary cause of higher unemployment among those groups. However, it is also true that education levels are generally lower for Black and Latino people, suggesting that the education system's failure to equitably serve those groups is also a contributing factor.

The multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census.

Data on unemployment by race and ethnicity is only available from the American Community Survey, and it is somewhat different from the total population unemployment data produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics using responses to the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. Two different survey methodologies are used (ACS responses are collected by mail, phone and in person; CPS uses phone and in-person interviews), CPS questions on employment are more detailed, and CPS requires that someone be "actively" searching for work (interviewing, calling contacts) in order to qualify as unemployed. In addition, the ACS estimates used here cover a 5-year period, compared to an annual average of monthly estimates presented in the general unemployment indicator. In 2009, the annual unemployment estimates for the nation from the two surveys varied, with ACS at 9.9% and CPS at 9.3%. Data for this indicator are expected to be released in the fourth quarter.