A woman walks in front of a store on February 22, 2021 in New York City.
John Smith | Corbis News | Getty Images
The loss of the main job figures was disappointing enough, but the August 2021 job report showed that black workers face an even greater struggle to find work compared to those looking for a job. ‘other races.
Employers only added 235,000 payrolls last month, far fewer than the projected 720,000. The unemployment rate fell from 5.4% to 5.2%, in line with estimates.
But the unemployment rate among black workers rose in August to 8.8% from 8.2% in July. The white unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 4.5% from 4.8% and the Asian unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 5.3%.
The unemployment rate for Hispanic and Latino workers fell to 6.4%, from 6.6%.
Most economists and President Joe Biden pointed to the growing number of cases of the Covid-19 delta variant for a number of slow jobs. Experts have also pointed to a decline in consumer confidence due to the slowdown in hiring.
The rise in black unemployment is even more worrying in light of the fact that the labor force participation rate among black workers increased last month and is almost tied to the white worker rate of 61.6. %.
In other words, despite a larger percentage of blacks working or looking for work, a larger proportion could not get a job.
Entrepreneurs are the problem, said William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, former chair of Howard University’s economics department. He noted that in August, the unemployment rate among black workers with associated qualifications exceeded that of white high school dropouts.
Specifically, black workers with associate qualifications recorded an unemployment rate of 6.9%, while the unemployment rate among white high school dropouts was 5.8%. The unemployment rate of all races for people without higher education of 25 years and over was 7%, while the unemployment rate of blacks with secondary degrees in the same age category was 10%. %. These figures challenge the ever-present belief that greater educational achievement in the workplace will be rewarded.
“A lot of people find work, but a larger portion of those who went out to look did not. So the black unemployment rate has been rising because employers are still going above black workers,” Spriggs said. on CNBC on Friday. “When you look at these numbers, it’s clear that employers say, ‘We want workers, but not exactly.’
Spriggs ’comments refer to the widespread complaint among American employers that they cannot find workers to fill a record number of job offers. The Department of Labor reported last month that job vacancies rose to a record 10.1 million on the last day of June.
Some employers, and especially restaurants, are dedicated to attracting potential workers with wage increases, signing bonuses and more generous benefit plans.
Walmart, for example, said Thursday that it increases hourly wages for more than 565,000 store workers by at least $ 1. These incentives need to be meaningful enough, however, to help ease the barriers that keep people from working, said Kristen Broady, a fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
“Is it enough to cover child care?” she asked. “Are you raising wages enough so that people can cover the costs of being able to get this job?”
Business leaders, including the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, have blamed the lack of skilled labor, the Covid-era unemployment benefits and the lack of childcare for the struggles of employers.
However, Spriggs said the stubbornly high unemployment rate among black workers has one main explanation: discrimination.
“When you see black workers struggling but the job market is doing well, that’s a sign that employers are showing their preference,” Spriggs said.
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