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Black and Hispanic unemployment rates are consistently higher than white rates, gaps that widen quickly in recessions and narrow much more slowly after an economic recovery begins.
Racial and ethnic disparities in employment outcomes are rooted in the United States’ history of structural racism, which curtails employment opportunities through many policies and practices such as unequal school funding, mass incarceration, and hiring discrimination.
These patterns highlight the importance of policymakers maintaining robust, expanded unemployment insurance assistance until the economy has recovered substantially from the current recession.
Doing so would relieve hardship that falls disproportionately on workers of color, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in unemployment and other labor market outcomes, and speed the economic recovery.
Policymakers must not turn off measures enacted to combat hardship while workers of color and their families face high unemployment and difficulties meeting basic needs.
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