There are strong indications that the economy is verging on recession as last week's employment report from the labor Department showed the nation's overall jobless rate reaching 5 percent - the highest in two years.
For African Americans, unemployment surged to 9 percent in December - the highest level in 15 months. Meanwhile, joblessness for Hispanics jumped to 6.3 percent - the highest in more than two years.
Overall, the economy in December added only 18,000 new jobs.
Economists generally believe the U.S. economy must add around 100,000 new jobs each month in order to keep pace with the number of new people entering the labor market.
Definitions of recession vary; but several months of rising unemployment is usually the most concrete sign that the nation has entered a recessionary cycle.
Meanwhile, the most recent figures from the Census Bureau suggest 24.4 percent of Blacks live in poverty compared to 10.5 percent of whites.
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