AP Photo/Richard Drew

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 14,000, great news for the market since the Dow hasn’t been this high since October 2007. According to The Huffington Post, the key drivers for the increase were the reports on U.S. jobs and auto sales.

Although the jobs report showed unemployment reached  7.9 percent, an increase from 7.8 percent in prior months, investors chose to focus on the positive: employers added 157,000 jobs in January and hiring was stronger over the past two years than previously thought.

However, with all these jobs being added, things don’t appear to be as upbeat for African Americans just yet. The National Journal reported that the unemployment rate for African Americans remains the highest at over 13.8 percent, although that is a .2 percent drop from last month. The unemployment rate for Hispanics is currently 9.7 percent, while Asians and whites have unemployment rates of 6.5 and seven percent respectively.

Generally the Dow can be a signal of investor confidence and even with an increasing unemployment rate the 14,000 high that the Dow reached today arguably proves that investor confidence is back.

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

President Obama met with reporters yesterday to reassure us that we are not heading for what he termed a “double-dip” recession. The President sought to express his confidence that despite recent declines in jobs creation, the economic uptick his administration has established will continue to produce growth. This news comes after last week’s jobs report revealed that employers only added 54,000 positions to the employment market, churning up pessimism on both Wall Street and Main Street.

Trading was down in reaction to this sign; plus, according to CBS News, six in ten Americans still believe we’re gripped in a recession, despite reports that it is officially over. CBS has more on the President’s positive outlook:

President Obama said today he’s concerned about last month’s slow job growth, but he’s not concerned about the economy sinking into another technical recession.

“I’m not concerned about a double-dip recession,” Mr. Obama said at a joint press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I am concerned the recovery we’re on is not producing jobs as quickly as I’d like.”

Last week’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May. Employers hired only 54,000 new workers last month, the fewest in eight months.

“We don’t yet know whether this is a one-month episode or a longer” problem, the president said. Consumers are currently experiencing “headwinds” like high gas prices, he said, to which his administration has responded with steps to try and stabilize the international oil market.

Mr. Obama pointed out today that prior to this latest disappointing report, the U.S. economy experienced three months of robust growth. He pointed to additional signs of economic recovery, such as the rebound of the domestic manufacturing sector.

But, he said, “We’ve still got some enormous work to do.”

This work will include investing in education and energy, with a strong focus on fiscal policy including reducing the deficit.

What President Obama did not address is the growing crisis in the African-American community, which looms like a shadow outside his sunny focus on growth. While unemployment rose to 9.1% overall, African-American males experienced a staggering increase to 18.6% for the month of May, according to a UC Berkley report. The unemployment rate for blacks at large is now 16.2%, almost twice the national level. Blacks, in particular black men, are suffering through what many economists would call a depression, yet the first black president has yet to consider this issue worthy of consistent commentary.

As President Obama continues to sell us on the end of the recession, will he face the Great African-American Depression that millions grapple with? To be fair, President Obama has stressed his belief that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Even at the current alarming rates, black unemployment is actually down. The key issue is that it continues to rise despite this for black men.

The president is avoiding a crisis that must be addressed. African-Americans are waiting. If and when Obama responds, we will remember how our cries for intervention met his walls of silence — for too long.

(New York Times) — The United States added just 83,000 private-sector jobs in June, a dishearteningly low number that could add to the growing number of economists who warn that the economic recovery has slowed to the point that it cannot generate enough job growth. Over all, the nation lost 125,000 jobs, according to the monthly snapshot of the job market released by the Labor Department on Friday. Most of the lost jobs came as temporary workers hired by the federal government for the 2010 Census exited their jobs. The unemployment rate, based on a different survey, declined to 9.5 percent in June from the previous 9.7 percent. This decline came only because the nation’s labor force shrank by 652,000 jobs.

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(Daily Finance) — An initial analysis of the 431,000 jobs total reveals a May jobs report was a major disappointment. Dismal might be a better word, as private sector hiring is way too slow.

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Madames, we’ve got good news and bad news. The good news, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, is that some of you sisters have j-o-b-s. In fact, the economy added a little over 400,000 jobs in May. Ready for the bad news?

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CNNMoney.com) — Stock investors return from a long weekend ready to embrace an encouraging piece of news: The economy added more jobs in March than in any month in the last three years.

With stock markets closed for Good Friday, the Monday after Easter is the first trading day for investors to react to the report.

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