The following article originally appeared on TheGrio.com:

The unemployment rates for every segment of the African-American population remains persistently high, even while the rest of the nation is starting to get back to work. While the national unemployment rate has dropped to 8.9 percent, for African-Americans, the rate is 15.3 percent. For Black men, the unemployment rate is 16.2 percent; for Black women, 13 percent; and among Black teens, 38.4 percent, which is 17 percentage points higher than that of their White counterparts.

Economists predicted in 2008 that African-Americans would lag behind the nation’s overall economic recovery efforts. The legacy of generational, chronic unemployment and persistent under-employment led to Depression-like conditions for African Americans when the nation was in the “Great Recession.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the impact remains severe today. Still, even if we knew it was coming, the sting of a disparate recovery is no less painful.

This is especially true when it is an old demon — segregation — that continues to haunt equal access to opportunity today.

Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that residential segregation for African-Americans is now at its lowest point in a century; however, further analysis shows that in some respects, that statistic was misleading. A block-by-block analysis — which allows for a more detailed examination of where people live than a census tract analysis — reveals continued segregation patterns that affect not only educational outcomes, but employment outcomes as well…

Read the entire article here.