You may have heard there’s a labor shortage. The Wall Street Journal says so. So does the U.S Chamber of Commerce and many corporate CEOs.
Others say the labor shortage is mostly a myth, that businesses could easily find more workers if they just offered them more money. After all, that’s the law of supply and demand.
Preliminary data suggests that employers are starting to raise pay again, luring hesitant workers back after more than a year of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Wages rose across all racial groups in the first three months of 2021 — the first time that happened since the pandemic began to shut down the U.S. economy, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The typical full-time worker got a $32 weekly raise during that time, outpacing inflation.
But if you look closely at the numbers, a familiar theme emerges. The recovery is not the same for everyone. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of the data shows that white women and Asian men saw the largest gains in weekly pay — $39 and $48, respectively.
Meanwhile, Black men and Latinas got less than half as much. The $11 pay increase for the typical Black man was the smallest among all groups. The typical Latina received an $18 weekly raise.
These pay gaps, which come on top of longstanding income inequality, are the latest example of the pandemic’s uneven economic impact. Black and Latino employees, many of whom work in the service industry, lost their jobs at a higher rate than everyone else. They were also less likely to qualify for unemployment aid because many live in states that have made it harder to access the benefit.
“The [labor] market won’t correct 100 years of racial and gender inequality that have been baked into the system,” said Randy Albelda, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Albelda said lawmakers need to craft policies to reverse decades of income inequality, particularly by investing in child and elderly care services. She pointed to the Better Care Better Jobs Act, introduced in the House in June, which would raise wages and expand benefits for home care workers, who are predominantly immigrants and women of color. She also cited the Family Act, a bill that would subsidize paid leave for working families after the birth of a child or to care for a sick relative.
Neither bill has made it to a full vote in the Senate or the House.
“We entered the pandemic with enormous amounts of inequality among women, and the recession just made it worse,” Albelda said. “The market won’t correct itself.”
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $120,000 in one-time donations and to add 1383 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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