• People of color account for 39 percent of the prime working-age population (25-64) and 47 percent of the emerging workforce (18-24). Black and Latinx residents comprise over one-third of emerging workers ages 18 through 24.

• Women comprise an equal or larger share of people of prime working age as men across all racial/ethnic groups, except for the Latinx population.

• Latinx immigrants account for about one in 10 of the prime working-age population while Asian American immigrants account for one in 20.

• Among the Latinx population ages 25 through 64, there are about 14 million residents of Mexican ancestry, about half of whom are immigrants. Among the Asian American population of prime working age, there are two million residents of Indian ancestry (90 percent immigrants) and two million of Chinese ancestry (80 percent immigrants).

The US population is increasingly made up of people of color and immigrants, particularly among younger generations. At the same time, the white population is rapidly aging, as baby boomers retire and birth rates continue to decline. These twin forces are widening the demographic gap between the nation’s youngest and oldest residents. As people of color become the majority of the US workforce, racial inequities in the labor market represent a rising liability for the economy as a whole. Today, roughly half of all young people under the age of 25 are people of color, many of whom grow up in historically underresourced neighborhoods without the robust educational systems, digital infrastructure, public transit, and professional networks that help young people access good-paying jobs in stable workplaces and industries.

• Invest in robust, disaggregated data collection and reporting systems and utilize granular insights on differential outcomes to drive systems change.

• Grow new good jobs by making smart investments in infrastructure projects, supporting economic development strategies to grow high-opportunity industries, and helping entrepreneurs of color start and scale up their businesses.

• Reduce employment barriers for people with records by "banning the box" — eliminating questions about conviction history on job applications (for private as well as public employers).

• Connect unemployed and underemployed workers to the jobs created by new development through targeted local hiring, community workforce agreements, and community benefits agreements.

• Invest a portion of infrastructure investments in job training.

• Implement sector-focused workforce training and placement programs and apprenticeships that create pathways to good jobs for workers with barriers to employment.

• Invest in innovative training and credentialing models that democratize the economic benefits of a bachelor’s degree to a wider swath of the workforce, such as paid-on-the-job training and portable, stackable credentials and microcredentials to facilitate upward career transitions.

• Enact strong language access policies requiring interpretation and translation services for English-language learners and facilitate naturalization among green card holders.

• At the federal level, institute a federal jobs guarantee, dedicate 1 percent of infrastructure investments to a fund for inclusive job and contracting supports, set aside a share of public contracts for businesses owned by people of color to mirror area demographics, reform the Community Reinvestment Act to expand access to fair financial products and services for entrepreneurs of color, and ensure that releases from federal prison receive essential identification documents to support job attainment.

• Reports: Race and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United States; How Covid-19 Is Affecting Black and Latino Families’ Employment and Financial Well-Being; 10 Principles for a Federal Job Guarantee; Exploring Targeted Hire; Despite Continued Job Growth, Long-Term Unemployment Persists; Hiring Bias Black And Latino People Face Hasn't Improved In 25 Years
• Data: Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker (Low-Income Employment); Metro Monitor; State of Working America; Understanding Long-Term Employment