Resilience and Momentum: Where Black Workers Are Gaining Ground in the U.S. Labor Market

The U.S. labor market has been through a great deal of turbulence in the past six years, and Black workers have felt that turbulence acutely. Unemployment gaps widened, wage gains were uneven, and economic uncertainty cast a shadow over household finances. And yet, something important is also happening beneath those headline numbers: Black workers are not just weathering the storm, they are steering the ship. 

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS) and ZipRecruiter's survey data paint a portrait of a Black workforce that is engaged, proactive, and forward-looking. That doesn't mean the structural challenges are gone, but it does mean that Black workers are increasingly writing their own stories of success.