October 7, 2018
While a strong economy isn't a cure for racism, it sure is doing a lot to help smooth out inequality in the labor market. As economists have taken a closer look at Friday's monthly labor-market update from the BLS, an interesting pattern has emerged that would seem to cut against the idea that only white Americans are benefiting from President Trump's policies.
To wit, Axios pointed out that the employment-to-population ratio for blacks is rising much more quickly than that of whites. Presently, roughly 59% of black Americans are employed, compared with more than 60% for whites.
According to Axios, the rise in black relative employment can be attributed to black Americans being more willing to take relatively lower-paying jobs, while white Americans are typically more inclined to wait for a higher salary. And if unemployed whites truly are holding out for higher-paying jobs, they're in for a wait, because as Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slok pointed out back in August,high-paying jobs have actually been declining throughout 2018 as employers have shifted their hiring to low-wage occupations.
Also, the pay gap between white and black workers remains stubbornly wide. The median weekly earnings for white, full-time workers in September was $907, while African Americans made $683.
But while anecdotal reports are no substitute for cold, hard data, Axios spoke with several black workers in Harlem and found that lower wages didn't deter them from taking another job.
- Tray Baynard, who is black, re-entered the workforce 3 weeks ago and took a pay cut. The 27-year-old was hired as a construction worker at World Class Demolition in New York with a salary of $18 an hour, significantly less than the $26 he earned at his previous job. "I'm not getting paid as much, but it's a job so I took it," he said.
- Onique Morris, who is also black, accepted a teaching position at New York-based P.S. 79 without shopping around for a better salary.
- "I would have taken it no matter what the pay was," said Morris, who is studying for a master's degree in education.
- Another black worker, Terrence Riley, left a job at a Carolina Herrera retail shop after two years, and went on to be a production coordinator at Oscar de la Renta. Riley said opportunity outweighed other factors, including pay.
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While black unemployment is at an all time low, a little context paints a more alarming picture. For example, the unemployment rate for whites (3.3%) is roughly half that of blacks. And the black unemployment figure is also distorted by the fact that millions of incarcerated black Americans (and millions more who just aren't looking for work) are excluded from employment figures because they aren't considered participants in the labor market.
In summary, the overall employment picture for black Americans is improving under President Trump (which is perhaps one reason why the president's support among blacks has nearly doubled over the past year) - just not as quickly as the headline numbers would suggest.
