The Early Impact of Covid-19 on Job Losses among Black Women in the United States

Abstract

Given that a high proportion of workers in "essential" sectors of the US economy are Black women, this paper seeks to answer the following: in which occupations did Black women in the US experience the greatest job losses during the early phase of the pandemic? Drawing on feminist economic and stratification economic theories, this quantitative analysis suggests that the greatest losses were cashier jobs in the hotel and restaurant industry, and childcare worker positions in the healthcare and social services industry. These two occupations are low wage, dominated by women, and considered essential. This study posits that Black women disproportionately lost these jobs for three reasons: (1) Black women's strong attachment to the US workforce; (2) Black women's overrepresentation in the hotel/restaurant and healthcare/social services industries; and (3) women's overrepresentation in low-wage occupations. The study offers policy solutions that could help sustain the Black community during the pandemic-inspired economic downturn.

Racialized and Gendered Constructions of the “Ideal Server”: Contesting Historical Occupational Discourses of Restaurant Service

“…As soon as April 2020, 5.5 million people who had been employed within restaurants and bars had already lost their jobs (Franck, 2020). Within the broader economy, Black women have disproportionately lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic (Holder et al, 2021). As in the opening quote, the pandemic amplifies already existing unequal relations characterizing service.…”

Emerging Zoonotic Infections, Social Processes and Their Measurement and Enhanced Surveillance to Improve Zoonotic Epidemic Responses: A “Big Events” Perspective

“…COVID-19 in the US (and elsewhere) has led to more financial hardship and job loss among women than men (particularly comparing those with children with those without or those who are immigrant with those who are not), with Latinx, Black, and indigenous females further impacted than their White female counterparts [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. It is not clear what the political and long-range impacts of these disparities will be, nor of how they may influence change in the pandemic.…”

COVID-19 and heterogeneous vulnerabilities in the Peruvian labor market: implications for social inequalities and for gender gaps

“…Other authors delved further into the role of specific occupations and economic sectors. For instance, Holder et al (2020) examined the impact of COVID-19 on the employment of black women in the United States in terms of their occupational and industrial distribution, as well as labor participation and hours of work, finding that although the economic crisis caused by the pandemic has been generalized, it has not been shared equally between races and genders. Black women were disproportionately affected because of their high levels of occupational and industrial segregation in the labor market, and also because they are, along with black men, overrepresented in the room and board industry, where there are notoriously low wages.…”