Coronavirus: African American workers hit hard

Text by: Ariane Gaffuri Follow

The figures are final. More than 40 million Americans have been unemployed since February, when the pandemic began in the United States. Among them, African-Americans and minorities are the most vulnerable.

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In February, before the new coronavirus pandemic, unemployment in the world's leading economic power proudly posted an overall rate of 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years. It was 5.8% for black people against 3.1% for whites. This rate has since exploded because of the pandemic: 16.7% for blacks, against 14.2%, for whites, with more than 20.6 million jobs destroyed at the end of April, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Between February and April, 17.8% of black workers, or one in six, lost their jobs, compared to 15.5% for white workers. Knowing that the former represent one in nine workers, or almost 12% of the country's workforce, we read in the EPI study, the Economy Policy Institute, published on June 1, in a particular context in the United States. . In addition to the coronavirus, there has been violence throughout the country since the death on May 25 of George Floyd , a 46-year-old African American who was asphyxiated by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

► Read also: Against the coronavirus and racism, the double war of African Americans

Inequalities in the labor market

"  Not only do black workers lose their jobs at an incredible rate, but those who do not lose them work in low-paid essential jobs, with no telework possible, sometimes without health insurance  ," said Valerie Wilson, an economist at EPI, a progressive think tank. These people work in mass distribution, transport, health or even personal assistance. "  They are therefore on the front line, facing the pandemic  ", On the front line and with more fragile health. "  The greatest racial disparities exist in the prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular problems, obesity,  " according to the study. Several generations of black households live together under the same roof, in undersized housing and in highly populated areas.

For all these reasons, blacks are "  three to four times  " more affected by the coronavirus than other citizens, admitted Donald Trump. While they make up 12.5% ​​of the country's population, blacks represent 22.4% of deaths due to Covid-19. As of June 2, the pandemic has killed more than 105,000 people in the United States and infected 1.8 million.

Historically, few minorities have access to positions of responsibility in companies in the country. Only three African-Americans and 24 women head the 500 largest American companies. And only one, Ken Frazier, boss of the pharmaceutical laboratory Merck, heads one of the 30 companies listed on the Stock Exchange in the United States.

Less than 10% of business leaders are people of color. They are the head of sectors that employ a large number of employees and are affected by the closings due to the Covid-19. According to the State Department of Labor, "  40% of the income of businesses owned by blacks is made in the five most vulnerable sectors  ", such as leisure, hotels, restaurants, retail, services.

As for households, the median income in 2018 of white households is 70% higher than that of black households: more than $ 70,000 annually compared to nearly 42,000. These low incomes in the United States do not allow these vulnerable populations to to save money to cope with storms like that of the coronavirus. At the very bottom of the income scale, the poverty rate for blacks is two and a half times higher than that for whites. One in five Blacks lives below the poverty line, just $ 26,000 a year for a family of four.

Difficult access to federal aid

To date, the US Congress has paid approximately $ 2.9 trillion in budget support to households, businesses, the health sector, states and local communities, or 14% of the country's gross domestic product. But fragile populations do not have easy access to these boosters. However, one of the provisions of the CARES Act, the law intended to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus, includes a payment of $ 1,200 to taxpayers whose gross income is less than $ 75,000 and to households that earn less than $ 150. 000 dollars. Families with children can also receive an additional $ 500.

Since black households receive wages below these thresholds, they are eligible for this aid. But 17% of them cannot receive them because they do not have a bank account. This is also the case for 3% for white households. “  These inequalities are not new. They have always existed. We cannot solve them until we challenge our predatory capitalism system  , ”said economist and business manager Julianne Malveaux.

A remark echoed by Jaribu Hill, judge, founder of the Mississippi Center for Human Rights and also African-American. “  Black people are there because they do not earn enough to live properly. They have no basic social rights, no respect for their dignity in the world of work, she protested. We need rigorous legislation that corrects disparities rather than bandaging them. But the elected officials, the various actors, to whom I wrote, do not dare to approach these questions because they are afraid of being penalized by their white counterparts. We need courageous governance. We need committed people to counter this historic policy of disadvantaging and marginalizing the black population. It takes revolutionaries for things to change.  "

A glimmer of hope ? Bank of America, the second American bank, announced on June 2 a envelope of a billion dollars to fight against racial injustices in the United States? A reaction to the death of George Floyd, May 25. “  The events of the past week have created a real emergency across the country, especially given the racial injustices we see in our communities where we work and live. We all need to do more,  "said Brian Moynihan, CEO of the second largest bank in a statement.

The bank wants to support initiatives in the health fields and improve the skills of African-American and Hispanic employees, in order to facilitate their access to positions of responsibility.

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• United States
• Coronavirus
• Employment and Work