When there's an economic slowdown, the racial employment gap grows. But mainstream economic data doesn't always reflect the struggle, according to William Spriggs, Howard University economics professor and chief economist for the AFL-CIO.
Following the pandemic, Black unemployment rates fell. Spriggs said this seemingly positive trend came to be for all the wrong reasons, reflecting a lack of participation in the labor force, not an increase in employment.
"Blacks were giving up," he said. "[They] were saying, 'There are no jobs. They're not hiring.'"Â
This distinction, while often misunderstood, is crucial to understanding the workforce.
Throughout the last year, employers claimed they were struggling to staff properly, citing a lack of workers. But as the workforce picked up, employers weren't actually hiring, Spriggs said.
Specifically, he said, they weren't hiring Black workers.
Without that nuance — when data is limited to simplistic, "top line" employment statistics — marginalized communities slip through the cracks in our understanding and remain starved of representation, stunting change and growth for those who need it most.Â
Watch the video to learn more about how implicit bias corrupts economic data and therefore our understanding of the current labor landscape.
