NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous said Sunday that black Americans “are doing a full point worse” than when President Obama first took office.

“The country’s back to pretty much where it was when this president started,” Mr. Jealous told MSNBC host David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” “White people in this country are doing a bit better. Black people are doing a full point worse.”



The black unemployment rate was 12.7 percent when Mr. Obama took office. While the unemployment rate in the U.S. as a whole is below 8 percent, the Labor Department reported the black jobless rate was up from 12.9 percent to 14 percent for December.

The worst during Mr Obama’s first term was in September 2011, with 16.7 percent unemployment for blacks — the highest since 1983, the Department of Labor reports. The black teen jobless rate hit a staggering 39.3 percent in July 2012.

The NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Action Network, among others, met for the second time on Friday to discuss a “black agenda” for the president, Politic365 reports. The coalition stated it will urge Mr. Obama to mention an urban jobs plan in his State of the Union speech on Feb. 12.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to accurately reflect Mr. Jealous‘ quotes.

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