HispanicBusiness

The liberal think tank Economic Policy Institute said Monday that jobless rates for African-Americans, Latinos and whites will remain elevated through 2013.

Algernon Austin, EPI director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program, said the African-American unemployment rate will continue to exceed the overall rate in each state; the Latino jobless rate will continue to exceed the overall rate in 13 of 23 states with sample sizes large enough for estimates; and the white unemployment rate also is projected to remain unchanged in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

At the end of 2012, the African-American unemployment rate significantly exceeded the overall state rate in all states analyzed, and this is projected to remain the same through this year. Five states had black unemployment rates over 17 percent -- Michigan (18.7 percent), New Jersey (17.8 percent), Illinois (17.6 percent), North Carolina (17.3 percent), and California (17.2 percent).

White unemployment rates remained either essentially equal to overall state rates or significantly lower in all states, with relatively little change projected through 2013. Nevada (9.3 percent), Rhode Island (9.0 percent) and New Jersey (8.6 percent) had the highest white unemployment rates.

The national jobless rate is 7.9 percent.