Data on unemployment filings in California reveals how the Black working class has been hardest hit by the Covid recession, underscoring the need for targeted, race-conscious recovery strategies. 

By Eliza McCullough

While the economic crisis has affected a startling number of workers, workers of color and low-wage workers have been hit the hardest. In California, 8.7 million workers (nearly 45 percent of the labor force) have filed for unemployment insurance (UI) since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. But job displacement has varied dramatically by race and education, as illustrated by the  California Policy Lab’s recent analysis of UI claims data. This post highlights how California’s Black workers are experiencing disproportionate unemployment in the Covid recession due to structural racism embedded in the labor market, and describes policy priorities to ensure an equitable recovery.

About 85 percent of California’s Black workforce has filed for unemployment at some point since March 15th, which is more than double the rate for White, Latinx, and Asian or Pacific Islander workers. This includes workers who filed for either regular UI or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a program created by the CARES Act to extend benefits to workers not usually eligible for regular UI.* 

This unemployment crisis for Black workers in a time of economic contraction threatens to increase already-wide racial inequities in employment. Structural racism embedded in the US labor market has created barriers to employment for Black workers that predate the current recession, ranging from employer bias and discrimination to residential segregation and mass incarceration. Black workers are typically the group hardest hit by economic downturns and are often the last to recover, as evidenced during the Great Recession when Black workers disproportionately suffered from long-term unemployment. The current economic crisis has most negatively impacted the hospitality, retail, and tourism sectors, industries in which Black workers are concentrated due in large part to discriminatory public policies that restricted Black workers’ access to better-paying jobs in other industries (a phenomenon known as “occupational segregation”). As these service sectors have gone through massive lay-offs, Black employees have been subject to the “last hired, first fired” phenomenon in which low-wage positions are the first to be eliminated.

Further disaggregating the data by race and educational attainment, we see that racial inequities are particularly extreme among workers without four-year degrees. Workers of all races with lower education levels have been hardest hit by the Covid recession: More than half of California workers with a high school degree or less (who account for 38 percent of all workers in the state) have filed for unemployment since March 2020 compared to 13 percent of workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher. But unemployment filings are particularly high for Black workers without post-secondary education: virtually all Black workers with a high school degree or less (99 percent) have filed for unemployment, along with 75 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander workers with this level of education, compared with 52 percent of White workers and 33 percent of Latinx workers.

Black workers are overrepresented in lower education groups due to deep-seated structures of racial exclusion which have created significant barriers to accessing higher education. Residential segregation, perpetuated by exclusionary zoning, has led to the concentration of low-income Black children in schools with inadequate resources, which researchers have found is the key driver of the educational achievement gap. Along with the rising costs of college, these barriers prevent many Black students from accessing post-secondary education. As middle-wage jobs have shrunk in recent decades, Black workers with no higher education have been pushed into low-wage, ‘flexible’ positions with minimal protections. These jobs have been most impacted by wage cuts, diminished hours, and layoffs during the current economic crisis. 

Toward an Equitable Economic Recovery

Black workers and other workers of color are in dire need of increased supports in California and nationwide. Policymakers and business leaders must take action to address immediate economic needs as we enter the eleventh month of the pandemic. At the same time, they must launch forward-thinking, race-conscious strategies that lay the foundation for an equitable recovery and future economy. We recommend the following:

1. Continue expanded UI benefits and provide direct cash support. Additional UI payments under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program should be increased back to $600/week (as provided from March to July). Additional and ongoing direct payments, such as the one-time $1,200 payments included in the CARES Act, could also provide a lifeline to unemployed workers and Black workers who are less likely to have adequate savings to fall back on.

2. Prevent evictions and foreclosures and provide debt relief to Covid-impacted households. As unemployed workers are more likely to be behind on rent and California’s Black renters are already paying unaffordable rent, policymakers must extend eviction moratoriums and provide rent debt relief. Limited rental assistance funds should be targeted to the hardest-hit households, particularly those in predominantly Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color, to prevent displacement and homelessness.  

3. Protect existing jobs. Multiple cities have passed legislation to ensure that laid-off workers in low-wage sectors can return to their former jobs. For example, Oakland’s Right to Recall policy requires employers in hospitality and travel to give laid-off workers priority when operations resume. Similar policies that protect jobs across sectors should also be implemented at the state and federal levels to ensure low-wage workers do not suffer from long-term joblessness or decreases in income and benefits. 

4. Build worker power. Unions have been shown to reduce racial inequality and provide economic security for Black workers. California policymakers must repeal Prop 22, which misclassifies app-based drivers as independent contractors and prevents their access to basic labor protections. Legislation that empowers workers, such as AB3075 which holds employers more accountable for wage theft, should be strengthened and expanded to ensure that recessions are less catastrophic for low-wage workers. Finally, California must increase funding for enforcement of labor and employment laws while also making state financial support for businesses conditional based on compliance with those laws.

5. Create high-quality public jobs accessible to unemployed workers. A Federal Job Guarantee would ensure everyone has access to living-wage jobs while meeting the physical and care infrastructure needs of disinvested communities. Policymakers should take immediate steps to support unemployed workers through direct job creation in crucial sectors, like the Public Health Jobs Corp program proposed by President-elect Biden. 

6. Expand access to upskilling opportunities and stable career pathways. Policymakers should proactively connect unemployed workers to good jobs by investing in workforce development, including higher education and training programs that reach Black workers, and enacting community workforce agreements on state-funded projects. Programs such as California’s Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative, which funds workforce development programs for those with barriers to employment, should be strengthened and expanded while business leaders should commit to advancing equitable employment practices and offering good job opportunities to workers hard-hit by the pandemic.
   

    

*The California Employment Development Department defines workforce as all individuals residing in California who worked at least one hour per month for a wage or salary, were self-employed, or worked at least 15 unpaid hours per month in a family business. Those who were on vacation or on other kinds of leave were also included. 

Our analysis of the demographics of the essential workforce in Santa Clara County reveals that the workers on the frontlines of the pandemic are disproportionately Latinx, Filipinx, Vietnamese, and women of color, and face economic vulnerabilities.

The coronavirus is disproportionately impacting populations, locally and nationally, including those who are low-income, Black and Latinx, and people with underlying health conditions. In Santa Clara County, Latinx residents account for 27 percent of the population but 38 percent of those who tested positive for the virus, according to county data. A recent study showed that early deaths from COVID-19 hit residents in four East San Jose zip codes, which are largely Latinx, particularly hard. One-third of early COVID-19 deaths in the county occurred in these four zip codes alone. These are the neighborhoods where residents grapple with high poverty and where local leaders have gone on record citing the lack of protective gear, health insurance, and inadequate health care for essential workers.   

Our analysis of the demographics of frontline workforce in Santa Clara County reveals that these workers are more likely to live in or near poverty, pay too much for housing, and lack health insurance. The data in this post draws from our Profile of Frontline Workers in the Bay Area, based on data from the 2014-2018 American Community Survey provided by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. You can access the data for Santa Clara County here.

There are 245,500 essential workers in Santa Clara County — one-quarter of all county workers — spread across 11 industries, largely in health care, manufacturing, construction, grocery, and childcare and social services.

Latinx workers account for nearly one quarter of the workforce in Santa Clara County (24 percent) but are overrepresented in frontline industries (36 percent). Latinx workers are heavily concentrated in agriculture (77 percent), building cleaning services and waste management (76 percent), construction (63 percent), and domestic work (58 percent). This trend was similar regionwide, but Latinx overrepresentation in these industries was higher in Santa Clara County.

Although not overrepresented in essential industries overall, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) and Black workers are concentrated in specific frontline industries in the county. API workers account for 37 of all workers in the county but are overrepresented in manufacturing (45 percent) and health care (44 percent). API workers regionwide are similarly concentrated in health care and manufacturing, as well as in the trucking, warehouse, and postal service industry. Black workers account for 3 percent of workers in the county but are concentrated in the public transit (7 percent) and trucking, warehouse, and postal service (6 percent) industries, which is similar to regional trends.

White workers are not concentrated in essential industries overall but in utilities specifically, an industry with higher median earnings and a higher share of college educated workers, compared with other essential industries. This mirrors regional trends.

Immigrants account for about half (48 percent) of the workforce in Santa Clara County and a comparable share of the essential workforce (49 percent). Within specific industries however, including building cleaning services and waste management (67 percent) and domestic work (67 percent), immigrants account for the majority of workers. This is also the case, but to a lesser degree, in the agricultural (55 percent) and construction (55 percent) industries. At the regional level, immigrants account for well below half (37 percent) of the workforce and are concentrated in these and several other essential industries.

Women of color in the county account for a larger share of the essential workforce (37 percent) than the workforce overall (30 percent). This was also the case for the region overall. Specifically, Asian or Pacific Islander women account for 16 percent of all Santa Clara County workers but 31 percent of health-care workers, 26 percent of childcare and social services workers, and 21 percent of workers in select manufacturing industries. Latina workers account for 11 percent of the county’s workforce, but 43 percent of building cleaning and waste management workers, 27 percent of childcare and social services workers, 24 percent of agricultural workers, and 20 percent of workers in the grocery industry. Black or African American women account for only 1 percent of the workforce in Santa Clara County, but triple the share in the childcare and social services (3 percent) and health care (3 percent) industries. 

“I am in greater demand, spread thin, stressed out. I have been working, as an essential worker. My young adult children have not and require financial assistance.” 

– Nurse, Los Gatos, Santa Clara County

 

Latino men, who account for 14 percent of the county’s workforce are also heavily concentrated in frontline industries: 62 percent of construction workers, 52 percent of agricultural workers, 37 percent of trucking, warehouse, and postal service workers, 33 percent of building cleaning services and waste management workers, and 22 percent of workers in the grocery industry. These county trends reflect trends at the regional level. 

As a group, Asian workers in Santa Clara County are underrepresented in frontline industries. This is the case regionally, although to a lesser degree. Within the county’s Asian population, Vietnamese and Filipinx workers are overrepresented in most essential industries. Similar trends exist Bay Area wide for Filipinx workers but not Vietnamese workers. Santa Clara County Vietnamese workers account for 18 percent of Asian workers in the county but are overrepresented among these workers in several essential industries: construction (38 percent); childcare and social services (29 percent); trucking, warehouse, and postal service (26 percent); utilities (26 percent); manufacturing (25 percent); grocery (24 percent); and others. Santa Clara County Filipinx workers account for 15 percent of Asian workers in the county but are overrepresented among Asian workers in nearly every industry except for construction (12 percent). This was generally the case for Filipinx workers regionwide as well.

Chinese workers account for 26 percent of all Asian workers in the county but are underrepresented among Asian workers in essential industries overall. Chinese workers are heavily concentrated among Asian agricultural workers (42 percent), however. At the regional level, Chinese workers are more likely to be concentrated in construction than agriculture. Korean workers are 4 percent of Asian workers in Santa Clara County but are underrepresented among Asian workers in essential industries. Korean workers account for 9 percent of Asian workers in construction, a higher share than regionwide.

Indian workers account for over one-quarter of the Asian workforce in Santa Clara County, but are generally not overrepresented in essential industries (and therefore not included in the chart above).

Santa Clara County essential workers are more economically and socially vulnerable than workers overall. They are more likely to lack college degrees, rent rather than own their home, pay more than they can afford in rent, and work part time. They are also more likely to care for a senior at home, live in or near poverty, and lack English proficiency, health insurance, and internet access. Sixteen percent of all frontline workers live below 200 percent of the poverty level (about $48,000 for a family of four) compared with 12 percent of all workers. Frontline workers also earn less: These workers have median earnings of $55,935 compared with $79,076 across all industries. These figures largely match regional trends. 

Essential workers are more likely to lack health insurance (8 percent) compared with workers overall (6 percent), but even more stark are the uninsured rates within frontline industries. Workers that are particularly vulnerable include those in the agricultural, construction, building cleaning services and waste management, and domestic work industries, where the uninsured rates are as high as 21 percent (agricultural industry). Regionwide, these same industries have the highest uninsured rates. 

For frontline workers to be healthy and economically secure they need proper protective gear and testing, paid sick leave and affordable health care, living wages, childcare and elder care, and secure housing. Santa Clara County is now offering free COVID-19 testing for all residents 18 years of age and older regardless of symptoms, which is a step in the right direction. South Bay representative Assemblymember Ash Kalra and state and local leaders have introduced two proposals to bolster workers’ rights and protect working families:

• AB 3216 would provide emergency paid sick leave, expand access to family leave, and create a right of recall for workers laid off in industries impacted by COVID-19.
• A partial income replacement program for undocumented workers who experienced COVID-19 job losses and were excluded from state and federal unemployment benefits. This proposal is supported by a state coalition of worker and immigrant rights organizations with the Safety Net for All coalition.

Learn more about actions that employers and state and local government should take to support frontline workers and provide for the common good.

Number of Women in Local Elected Office Increased by 31, But White Men Still Overrepresented (heading 2)

Number of Women in Local Elected Office Increased by 31, But White Men Still Overrepresented (heading 3)

Number of Women in Local Elected Office Increased by 31, But White Men Still Overrepresented (heading 4 -- winner?)

Number of Women in Local Elected Office Increased by 31, But White Men Still Overrepresented (heading 5)

Reports of a record-breaking number of women running for office in 2018 led many to dub it the “Year of the Woman.” White men are particularly overrepresented among local elected officials, but there were significant changes in gender disparities after the November 2018 elections. In the Bay Area, the number of women in top local elected positions increased by 31 from 236 to 267. In early 2018, 60 percent of White electeds were male. But that share declined to 56 percent after the 2018 elections.