Page 3 - Racial Disparities Taskforce Group 5 Data Summary

Introduction
The Community Foundation of Greater Flint convened the Greater Flint Coronavirus Taskforce on Racial Inequities in April of 2020; one month after the COVID-19 pandemic escalated and a state of emergency was issued which ―limited gatherings and travel, and required all workers who are not necessary to sustain or protect life to stay home‖.
The stated objective of this particular working group within the subcommittee on business, banking, and workforce development is to ―address inequities in earning potential and enhance skills to be prepared to enter career fields that provide living wages in the local and regional labor market by doing the following‖:
1. Connecting workers to training and jobs through virtual and future in-person job fairs.
2. Promote programs that upskill workers and position them for advancement and
increased wages.
3. Collecting, disaggregating, and sharing data to address inequities for workers in Flint
and Genesee County.
4. Providing access to relevant data to review: educational levels, credentials earned
income gaps, poverty levels, high demand careers, livable wage career opportunities, availability and use of support/resources.
To that end, this report seeks uses data from the 2018 American Community Survey and the 2017 Annual Business Survey to summarize the data on the Flint and Genesee county labor market in terms of educational attainment, household income, poverty, occupations, and wages.
The Impact of COVID-19
Workers throughout the country have been significantly impacted by the economic downturn being caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, some businesses began to close while other remain open with restrictions starting in March while others in the public and private sector began to work remotely, Unemployment began to rise reaching a peak in April, and job losses had reached 23 million by May of 2020.
A new report titled Black workers face two of the most lethal preexisting conditions for coronavirus—racism and economic inequality by Director of EPI‘s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy Valerie Wilson and Senior Economist Elise Gould explores how racial and economic inequality have left many Black workers with few good options for protecting both their health and economic well-being during the coronavirus pandemic. Persistent racial disparities in health status, access to health care, wealth, employment, wages, housing, income, and poverty all contribute to greater susceptibility to the virus—both economically and physically. The report includes charts that highlight the following data for consideration:
 While unemployment skyrocketed for Black and white workers in the COVID-19 labor market, the unemployment rate is higher for Black workers
 Employment has dropped sharply in the COVID-19 labor market—Black women face the largest losses
 Health effects: Black workers and their families are facing greater health risks
 Black workers are more likely to be in front-line jobs that are categorized as ̳essential‘—
forcing them to risk their own and their families‘ health to earn a living
 Black Americans make up 12.5% of the U.S. population but account for 22.4% of
COVID-19 deaths