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Raw data: Black men in the labor force

Published on 5 Comments on Raw data: Black men in the labor force

Yesterday Paul Krugman mentioned that over the past couple of years the economy has been especially strong for Black workers. That's true, and the effect has been pretty dramatic. Here's the labor force participation rate, a measure of how many people are working or actively looking for work:

For many years, the share of Black men in the labor force was a steady 5-6 points lower than white men. In the last couple of years of the Obama administration that gap narrowed to 4 points. Since 2021 it's narrowed again and is now less than 1.5 points. For the first time ever, nearly as many Black men are in the labor force as white men.

This hasn't changed wages much. Among those employed full time, Black men earn 20% less than white men. This is about the same as it was 20 years ago.

Black women are a different story: they've always been in the labor force at higher rates than white women. Their gap has widened recently, but not as much as men's has shrunk.

5 thoughts on “Raw data: Black men in the labor force”

  2. Jasper_in_Boston

    I wonder what the Black/white men’s wage gap looks like if we adjust for education. I bet it nearly vanishes.

  3. lower-case

    of course iowa republicans say trump gets credit for this

    ~~~
    Brian Laures, 52, said he had been star-struck meeting the former president at an event in Mason City earlier in the month. Laures was enlisted as a caucus captain by the Trump campaign to recruit pledges to show up to vote for Trump on Election Day. He had contacted more than 50 people, he said, and passed out dozens of yard signs.

    “The aura that man carries around is tremendous. He has absolute confidence,” he said. “I loved what he did with our country. You know, closing up our border, getting Black people working, lowest unemployment, everybody was working.”

    wapo iowa coverage

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