The Fed’s Fight Against Inflation Could Cost Black Workers The Most

Economy

The Fed’s Fight Against Inflation Could Cost Black Workers The Most

By Santul Nerkar

Mar. 30, 2023, at 6:00 AM

The gap between white and Black employment rates has virtually vanished, but it might not last for long.

Ting Shen / Xinhua via Getty Images

When the world grinded to a halt back in March 2020, one of the most tried and true rules of the U.S. economy once again reared its ugly head: When the economy goes into crisis, Black workers are disproportionately harmed — and are often the first to be affected. Unemployment spiked for everyone in April 2020, but to a considerably higher level for Black workers than the country as a whole. The share of all Americans who had a job fell, but it dropped even more for Black Americans. And existing wage and wealth gaps reinforced and even exacerbated those racial inequities, as Black workers had less saved up for the rainiest of days — or years — in our economy.

Since then, however, something unexpected has happened: Black workers have made some of their biggest economic gains in recent memory. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, median weekly earnings for Black workers rose by 11.3 percent from 2021 to 2022, larger than the 7.4 percent gain for all Americans. The Black unemployment rate is lower than it was at the start of the pandemic. And a greater share of Black Americans is employed than at any time since July 2001, as the gap between white and Black employment rates has virtually vanished — continuing a narrowing trend that actually predates the pandemic: 

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