8 PART 1: RECENT ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENTS 4. Unemployment rate by race and ethnicity Black or African American Asian 8642 2015 2019 NOTE: UI ent rate measures total unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be any race. The shaded bar indicates a period of business recession as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. SouRcE: Bureau of Labor Statistics via Haver Analytics. higher than that for other groups(figure 5) Important differences in economic outcomes 5. Prime-age labor force participation rate by race and persist across other characteristics as well ethnicity (see, for example, the box"Employment Disparities between Rural and Urban Areas which highlights that there has been less improvement since 2010 in the LFPR and White employment-to-population ratio for prime-age individuals in rural areas compared with anic or latino urban areas Increases in labor compensation have picked up recently but remain moderate Black or African american by historical standards Most available indicators suggest that growth of hourly compensation has stepped up further since June 2018 after having firmed somewhat pulation aged 25 to 54 persons wh are season all ar indicates a period of remain moderate compared with those thar g over the past few years; however, growth rat business recession as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Researd SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics prevailed in the decade before the recession. Compensation per hour in the business sector-a broad-based measure of wages and 2/4 percent over the four quarters ending in 2018: Q3, about the same as the average ase over the past seven years or so (figure 6). The employment cost index, a less volatile measure of both wages and the cost8 PART 1: RECENT ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL DEvELOPMENTS higher than that for other groups (figure 5). Important differences in economic outcomes persist across other characteristics as well (see, for example, the box “Employment Disparities between Rural and Urban Areas,” which highlights that there has been less improvement since 2010 in the LFPR and employment-to-population ratio for prime-age individuals in rural areas compared with urban areas). Increases in labor compensation have picked up recently but remain moderate by historical standards . . . Most available indicators suggest that growth of hourly compensation has stepped up further since June 2018 after having firmed somewhat over the past few years; however, growth rates remain moderate compared with those that prevailed in the decade before the recession. Compensation per hour in the business sector—a broad-based measure of wages and benefits, but one that is quite volatile—rose 2¼ percent over the four quarters ending in 2018:Q3, about the same as the average annual increase over the past seven years or so (figure 6). The employment cost index, a less volatile measure of both wages and the cost