The U.S. economy created 678,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported March 4, 2022, and Black male workers saw the greatest percentage-point decrease in the unemployment rate out of the demographic cohorts, from 7.1% in January to 6.4% last month.
But all was not well. The unemployment rate for Black women jumped to 6.1% in February from 5.8% in the previous month. Black women were the only race and gender group to see an unemployment rate increase.
“With men rejoining the labor force in pretty significant numbers over the last month, that means that all of the net labor force participation losses over the pandemic are women’s losses,” Emily Martin, National Women’s Law Center vice president for education and workplace justice told Business Insider.
“I don’t think that that can be a status quo that we are satisfied with.”
The Law Center reviewed the February report and concluded “while many other groups were joining the labor force last month, 31,000 Black women left, bringing their labor force participation rate down from 61.9% in January to 61.7% in February.
Other findings include:
-Black women’s pre pandemic labor force participation rate was 63.9% in February two years ago. Women gained 347,000 jobs last month but are still short over 1.4 million jobs since February 2020. The unemployment rate for women ages 20 and overstayed the same at 3.6% last month, but for men 20 and older, the unemployment rate decreased from 3.8% in January to 3.5% in February.
-Nearly 1 in 16 Black women older than 20 (6.1%) were unemployed last month, up from 5.8% in January. Over 1 in 16 Black men ages 20 and over (6.4%) were unemployed during the same time. That is down from 7.1% in January.Â
-For women older than 20, nearly 1 in 20 Latinas (4.8%) were unemployed in February. That was a decrease from 4.9% in January. For Asian women, around 1 in 35 (2.7%) were unemployed in February 2022, which declined from 3.2% in January. By comparison, the unemployment rate for white men ages 20 and over was 3.0% in February, down from 3.2% the prior month.
Michelle Holder, an economist at John Jay College and president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told CNBC nearly a third of all Black women who work in the U.S. are in the healthcare and social-services sector, which has had a slower rebound in labor recovery during the pandemic.
“Black men in the U.S. are overrepresented in transportation and warehouse industries, which have expanded during the pandemic as e-commerce boomed, she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris said recently on Twitter “nearly 2 million women have been forced out of the workforce since the pandemic began, and the lack of accessible, affordable childcare is often the reason why.”
The unemployment rate for Black Americans was 6.6% in February, double that of white Americans.
According to Labor Department figures, the 3.3.% unemployment rate for white Americans is lower than the Black unemployment rate has ever been since unemployment data has been calculated.
President Biden celebrated the job growth report, saying, “my plan to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out is working to get America back to work.”
“Since I took office, the economy has created 7.4 million jobs. That’s 7.4 million jobs providing families with dignity and a little more breathing room. We are building a better America.”
He said the February reports follows “the greatest year of job growth in American history and the fasted economic growth in almost 40 years.”
Gas prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine, and inflation continues taking a toll on consumers.
“While we must tackle head on the challenge families are facing with rising costs, [the February] report underscores that the United States is uniquely well positioned to deal with the challenge that inflation has posed across the world as we recover from the pandemic.”
