News US Economy News Some Dealt With 10% Unemployment Long Before Pandemic Off the Charts: The Visual Says It All By Diccon Hyatt Published on October 4, 2021 Fact checked by Helen Reis Fact checked by Helen Reis Helen is the senior news editor for The Balance and a veteran journalist with more than 17 years of experience, mostly in business and finance news. She is passionate about making complicated topics easy for everyone to understand and compulsive about accuracy and transparency. learn about our editorial policies Sponsored by What's this? & Photo: Kiyoshi Hijiki/Getty Images What for White workers was a once-in-a-lifetime unemployment crisis brought on by the pandemic has often been the norm for Black or African American workers over the last 35 years. Since August 1986, White people only experienced an unemployment rate of at least 10% during the first three months of the pandemic, a chart of unemployment rates by race shows. But the Black and African American unemployment rate has been double digits for a combined total of more than 21 years. Kenneth C. Montgomery, the new interim president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, pointed to these stark statistics Monday in a speech opening a virtual conference on racial disparities in the economy. The Federal Reserve sets the nation’s monetary policy with two main goals: making sure consumer prices are stable and maximizing employment. “Understanding racial disparities is essential to the Federal Reserve’s full employment mandate,” Montgomery said. Have a question, comment, or story to share? You can reach Diccon at dhyatt@thebalance.com. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “Understanding Racial Disparities Is Essential to the Federal Reserve’s Full Employment Mandate.”