(BLACK PR WIRE/FAMU-TALLAHASSEE) – One of America’s most pressing issues, the surge in unemployment, has affected all demographics, but the gap between blacks and whites has risen significantly, leaving African-Americans as the leading group in the unemployment epidemic. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate has jumped to 9.8 percent and the number of unemployed persons has increased from 7.6 million to 15.1 million since the start of the recession in December 2007.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicates that African-Americans are the leading worker group that is being affected by unemployment with 15.4 percent of that 9.8 million unemployed Americans, compared to whites with 9.0 percent. The declining economy and lack of new jobs and the loss of existing jobs has affected the African-American community the most in America, leaving people worried and stressed about their financial security.

“I am two months away from graduating college with my bachelor’s degree, and I have been applying for jobs everywhere but the call backs and offers are slim and it is really worrying me that I won’t be able to support myself post-graduation,” said Crashawn Anderson, 22, a fourth-year Business Administration student at Florida A&M University.

In large cities, such as New York City, blacks are losing their jobs four times faster than their white counterparts. According to a survey conducted by the New York Times, there were about 80,000 more unemployed blacks than whites, even though there are roughly 1.5 million more whites than blacks in the city. The chief economist in the comptroller’s office, Frank Braconi, told the New York Times that “African-Americans have been hit disproportionately hard in this recession.”