Employment: In an equitable economy, everyone who wants to work would have a good job.

Insights & Analyses

  • In 2022, Black and Native American working-age residents had less access to employment opportunities and the highest rates of joblessness, at 28 percent and 38 percent, respectively.
  • Between 1980 and 2022, the overall labor force participation rate for those at or above 200 percent poverty, increased from 78 percent to 86 percent, but it remained about the same for Native American workers, rising by only two percentage points (from 79 to 81 percent).
  • Since 1990, the labor force participation rate for women has remained below that of men, but the gap has been closing. In 2022, Latinx women had a labor force participation rate of 70 percent, compared to 88 percent for Latinx men.
  • The employment-to-population ratio for Latinx immigrants increased from 59 percent to 75 percent between 2000 and 2022. In 2022, US-born Black and Native American adults had the lowest employment-to-population ratios, at 70 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
     

Drivers of Inequity

A variety of historical and contemporary factors cause Black, Native American, Latinx, and other workers of color to experience unemployment at much higher rates than white workers. Employer discrimination against Black workers starts at the early stages of the hiring process. A study released in 2021, found that applications with distinctively Black names were about 10 percent less likely to get a call back than comparable applications with distinctly white names. In addition, racial segregation and disinvestment mean that students of color have far less access to well-resourced, high-quality schools. Transportation, affordable childcare and housing near job centers, and credit checks are also significant barriers to employment. Finally, racist policing practices and criminal legal system disproportionately incarcerate Black and Latinx men who then face employer discrimination due to their criminal records

Strategies

Grow an equitable economy: Policies to reach full employment for all

Strategy in Action

Per Scholas is a national organization that works to advance economic equity by providing no-cost training for technology careers. Operating in more than 20 locations across the nation, Per Scholas partners with tech employers, policymakers, and community-based organizations to create tech career pathways for its program participants and support increased diversity in the tech sector. In addition to focusing on hands-on technical skills development, its curriculum includes professional skills learning to prepare job seekers for success in the labor market. In 2021, 84 percent of the organization’s program participants were people of color, and a third were women. To date, more than 16,000 people have graduated from Per Scholas’ training program. The latest figures indicate that 80 percent of its graduates find full-time jobs within a year, with an average starting wage of $21 per hour. Read more.

 

Photo: Per Scholas

Resources

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