Likewise, Native Americans continue to have the highest unemployment rates of any ethnicity in the U.S. According to the earliest report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1982, the unemployment level of American Indians living on or near a reservation was about 31 percent. In 1987, just prior to the IGRA, unemployment was 38 percent. By 1989, the year following the enactment of the IGRA, it had increased to 40 percent. The most recent BIA report from 2005 found American Indian unemployment at a staggering 49 percent.U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Office of Indian Services. 2005 American Indian Population and Labor Force Report. Washington: GPO, 2005. Web. November 12, 2011. http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/public/documents/text/idc-001719.pdf The 2010 U.S. Census reported unemployment of Native Americans (including those living both on and off reservations) and Alaskan Natives to be 17.9 percent, tied with African American unemployment as the highest of any race in the U.S.
