COVID & Black Workers

Equitable Recovery Meant: Quality Jobs, Workplace Protection, and Equitable Recovery Resources

Black workers were rocked by the convergence of three pandemics: COVID-19 and the disproportionate loss of life; state violence, which has historically taken the lives of so many members of our communities; and chronic unemployment and poverty jobs.

We envisioned equitable and adequate coronavirus recovery resources that were intentionally earmarked for Black working families in Southern California to address racial and economic disparities laid bare by the crisis, including disproportionate loss of income due to unemployment and exposure to unsafe working conditions as essential workers in low-wage industries such as warehousing, fast food, and retail sectors. Black workers were twice as likely to face retaliation when reporting COVID-19 unsafe conditions and race-based discrimination at work. We called on the state to ensure deep long-term recovery resources that would ensure that Black workers received quality jobs and public employment benefits; enforced the right to be recalled to work, and included robust anti-discrimination and anti-retalition protections in the workplace and in housing, in order to avoid Black workers experiencing longer periods of unemployment and higher rates of eviction for decades to come.

As a Black-led and empowering collaboration, the SoCal BW Hub expands the field of Black worker organizing by consolidating and coordinating functions, sharing best practices, and collectivizing sustainability approaches needed to develop Black Worker Centers across the region while unifying Black worker voice and power in Southern California and beyond.

Via the Essential Stories campaign, we joined forces with key community partners to help close the employment equity gap. We knew that If decision-makers didn’t prioritize Black worker rights, resources, and protections, Black workers would likely experience longer periods of unemployment and higher rates of eviction for decades to come.

We focused on collaboration with decision-makers to ensure that comprehensive, long-term recovery resources were earmarked for Black workers, that Black workers received quality jobs and public employment benefits, that enforcements around the right to be recalled to work were in place, and that robust anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections would be implemented in the workplace and in housing.

There is a Black jobs crisis of generational underemployment, unemployment, and stagnant wages in the four Southern California counties (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego) where 64% of Black Californians live.

This crisis increases Black Californians’ vulnerability to preventable diseases, incarceration, and systemic police brutality. The COVID-19 pandemic inevitably worsened this Black job crisis. Unemployment reached record highs for everyone, but for Black workers, they fared even worse. Outreaching and providing resources to Black workers had never been more important and crucial for the State of California during that time, and focusing on Southern California was an important step in understanding the impact and the needs of Black workers.

Third- and fourth-quarter 2020 data found slow and differing recovery paths across racial/ethnic groups.

While the Hispanic–white ratio remained relatively stable at around 1.6 across both periods, the Black–white ratio continued its rise back toward its historical 2-to-1 trend. That is, while unemployment rates fell for all groups over the third and fourth quarters, Hispanic unemployment remained 60% higher than white unemployment, while Black unemployment rose from 60% higher to 90% higher.

The Essential Stories: Black Worker COVID-19 Economic Health Impact Survey, published in 2022 by: Déjà Thomas, Demetria M. Murphy, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, and Antonia Izuogu, via our partners at UCLA’s CARE at Work, finds that the current economic restructuring triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the Black jobs crisis in Southern California. With heightened unemployment, underemployment, and unsafe conditions for a workforce plagued by a long history of systemic racism, researchers find that it will take a decade to address these critical issues if state officials do not intervene sooner.

This report is the first large-scale study of Black workers in Southern California, which is home to 60% of the Black population in the state. The report documents the challenges faced by nearly 2,000 Black workers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among other findings, the report notes:

• Close to 70% of Black workers who lost their jobs or were furloughed during the pandemic have not been called back to work. More than half of Black workers surveyed worked in essential or front line sectors pre-pandemic.
• As Black workers have navigated overlapping economic and health crises during the pandemic, there has been insufficient systemic support available and accessible to them. 71% of on-site workers were concerned about COVID-19 exposure on the job. A third of workers reported uncertainty that they could afford food in the next month.
• 90% percent of Black women surveyed had an increase in at-home and financial responsibilities during the pandemic, and many of their employers were inflexible in accommodating their needs.

In response to the concerns of Black workers surveyed in the report and a subsequent exhaustive research analysis, the report offers the following key recommendations:

• Long-term quality jobs, economic support, and COVID-19 recovery programming
• Black worker wellness support through targeted programming
• Direct workforce rights training and development programming

In order for the current economic restructure to lead to an equitable recovery, researchers emphasize the importance of amplifying the voices of Black workers. These recommendations have been further summarized in the report in context of regional, state, and federal labor policies.

» Click here to read the Report.

Related Links

CBS Los Angeles

Spectrum News 1

Black Voice News

Business Insider

Times of San Diego

Black Voice News

Los Angeles Sentinel