The Black-white employment gap is growing. What's that say about the economy?

At a glance, the September jobs report doesn’t look so bad. The unemployment rate ticked up only a tenth of one percent to 4.2%. Employment stayed more or less the same across industries.

But dig a little deeper, and things don’t look quite as stable. The Black unemployment rate, for example, rose a full percentage point to 7%. In comparison, white unemployment went down a tenth of a percent to 3.6%.

That growing gap between Black and white employment could be a warning sign that the labor market isn’t quite as strong as the headline figures suggest. And as higher interest rates work their way through the economy, things could get worse.

EJ Ume is a professor of economics at Miami University in Ohio. He spoke to “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about the growing gap between Black and white employment, and how interest rate policy impacts different parts of the labor market.

Click the audio player above to hear their conversation.