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 2016-20, 7% of both African American and Hispanic residents of the region were unemployed, compared to 4% for both Asian and white residents. This is in line with disparities observed at the statewide and national levels, but the region's unemployment rates for Hispanic and African American residents are lower than the nation or the State of Massachusetts. Unemployment rates for all groups in Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester counties were similar. The highest rates in the counties were 8% for African American residents in Norfolk County and 7% in Worcester counties for Hispanic residents.

Since 2000, the region's unemployment rate declined 1 percentage point among Hispanic workers and increased 1 percentage point among white residents.

While traditional explanations for employment rate disparities focus on education and training gaps, whites tend to be employed at higher rates than Blacks and other people of color 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 people of color. However, it is also true that education levels are generally lower for people of color, suggesting that the education system's failure to equitably serve people of color 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.