The release of August’s jobs statistics last week by the Labor Department sparked a media frenzy over one number: zero. The report revealed that the nation failed to add jobs for the first time since last September. A media frenzy and wave of right-wing criticism of President Obama ensued.

But lost in much of the nation’s fervor was the fact that while the unemployment rate remained overall virtually unchanged, the rate for African Americans jumped from a seasonally adjusted 15.9 percent in July to 16.7 percent in August.  That’s the highest black unemployment rate in twenty-seven years.

In New York the picture isn’t much better.  While the state as a whole has fared relatively well in the recession, black unemployment remains high. The non-profit, non-partisan Fiscal Policy Institute put black unemployment at about fifteen percent (PDF) back in June.

FPI’s cheif economist James Parrott said blacks and hispanics are the first to be fired during the recession.  And Grace Wyler at Business Insider points out that cuts to jobs in the government are disproportionately affecting African Americans.

The recent numbers have spawned a new wave of pressure from left-leaning academics and groups that think President Obama needs to do more specifically for black America. Frequent TV commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins said race is completely missing from Obama’s rhetoric on unemployment.

But in a recent radio show interview the President breached the topic of race, something he rarely does. Talking about the recession, he said that while every American has suffered, “obviously the African-American community has suffered even more.”