Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • The 19th Explains: Why the nursing shortage isn’t going away anytime soon

        Mariel Padilla · September 23
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A woman works at her desk in empty office at night.
(Getty Images)

Business & Economy

Black women’s unemployment rate just dropped. What happened?

The unemployment rate for Black women went from 7 percent in October to 5 percent in November. But it may not all be for good reasons.

Chabeli Carrazana

Economy Reporter

Chabeli Carrazana portrait

Published

2021-12-03 11:08
11:08
December 3, 2021
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The unemployment rate for Black women fell from 7 percent to 5 percent in November, a large drop after months of lackluster growth, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday. 

Typically, unemployment rates change very little from month to month, so the drop among Black women, who have consistently had some of the highest rates of any racial group, is significant. However, since the pandemic began, monthly jobs figures have been more volatile, and clear explanations of what is happening in the labor market have become even more rare. 

“I don’t think we can celebrate quite yet,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. “I’m hopeful this means recovery is finally reaching them. I would like to believe it holds … I’m also really cautious because this data comes with a lot of volatility.” 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

It appears that the reason for the drop is mixed: Unemployment rates can fall because people leave the labor force, a “bad” reason because it means the rate is lower as a result of the overall labor force being smaller. To be counted as out of the labor force, people have to be unemployed and not looking for work at all. About 91,000 Black women left the labor force last month, the biggest month-to-month drop this year. But, their employment-to-population ratio — a figure that measures the number of people employed compared to the working-age population — went up. 

“That drop in unemployment is in part because people are getting jobs, but also in part because people are leaving the labor force,” Gould said. 

It’s difficult to say for sure after just one month, she said, because BLS has suspended in-person surveys during the pandemic. That has made it harder to reach people and exacerbated challenges for data collection of smaller cross sections of populations, particularly Black and Latinx women who have been hit hard by the pandemic and may not be responding to surveys in the way they did in the past. (BLS does not collect data on nonbinary people.) 

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

When small sample sizes are smaller, it’s more difficult to draw conclusions about what is happening each month. 

The story for Black women may not be clear until the coming months, when there is more data available to track if unemployment rates are really dropping. 

Angela Hanks, the acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration at the Department of Labor, said what may turn the tide for Black women is increased vaccinations and the return of jobs in fields like child care. 

Black women are overrepresented in jobs that deal directly with people, like hospitality and nursing. The child care crisis also makes it challenging for women to return to work. Since September, job growth in the child care sector has remained flat. 

“We’re still in a pandemic where Black women were disproportionately impacted. Increasing vaccinations only makes Black women more safe and more confident that the workplaces that they’re going into will keep them and their families safe and healthy,” Hanks said. 

The president’s Build Back Better package, which is likely being negotiated in the Senate this month, includes investments to increase the supply of child care, bring down the cost for parents and raise wages for child care workers to be more on par with teachers. Black women make up 16 percent of all child care workers. 

In the meantime, Hanks said the Department of Labor is looking at ways it can focus on equity in areas like grant making. The department has been adding requirements into grants for apprenticeships, for example, such as additional funds to expand recruiting and attract diverse candidates. 

“We want to make sure that it actually supports the communities that are going through it and so it’s not just access, it also is: What are the supportive and comprehensive services that we can provide?” Hanks said. “And so if you start from that place of, ‘What are the specific barriers that people face?’ and then develop policy around that, you will actually sort of meet people where they are.”

Those are all part of a longer term strategy with the goal of closing the gap between unemployment rates for communities of color and White Americans. 

In November, unemployment rates for Black women and Latinas (5.3 percent) remained higher than those for White women, whose unemployment rate is now 3.7 percent, about what it was when the pandemic began. Asian women’s rate, which is not adjusted for seasonal hiring like the other figures, is also down at 3.9 percent. 

Overall, about 320,000 men rejoined the workforce last month, compared to 274,000 women.

Based on a survey of employers, the economy added 210,000 net jobs in November — far below projections that estimated an addition of about half a million new jobs, even when taking into account that the figures will likely be readjusted next month when BLS revises the numbers. BLS figures are estimates, and they undergo several revisions, which are published the month after the initial release. Almost every month this year, the revisions have caused the monthly figures to go up slightly from the original estimates. 

About 64 percent of the net gains in November went to men, who saw an increase in 134,000 net jobs. For women, it was 76,000 net jobs. Likely driving that is strong growth in industries dominated by men, including professional and business services, which added 90,000 jobs; transportation and warehousing, which added 50,000 jobs; and construction, which saw an increase of 31,000 jobs.  

Fields dominated by women, including retail, hospitality and health care, were all essentially flat over the past month. Hospitality was the most severely hurt by the pandemic, which wiped out half of all its positions in April 2020. Typically, hospitality has been a bellwether for strong employment months for women — when hospitality jobs return, women also return to the labor force. That was not the case this month. 

According to Gould, at this pace, it will take until the end of 2022 to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

Caregiving

‘Am I even fit to be a mom?’ Diaper need is an invisible part of poverty in America

Parents cannot use federal aid to pay for diapers, and are often forced to come up with other solutions, using maxi pads or towels to keep their children clean and dry. In rural America where aid is even harder to access, tiny diaper banks are the only lifeline.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram