Groundwork Previews November Jobs Report

While economists are predicting another strong jobs report this Friday, Dr. Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at Groundwork, warned against efforts to pull the brakes on deeply-needed investments before our economy has fully recovered for all workers and families:

“Amid fears of a pandemic resurgence and rising prices, one thing is clear: our leaders must continue to prioritize economic security for all, especially for the Black and brown communities who continue to bear the brunt of this crisis. Passing the Build Back Better Act is an important step in supporting quality jobs and a stronger labor force, and disrupting the deeply unequal, precarious status quo that got us here in the first place.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to set up an interview with Dr. Mabud and join us for our monthly Jobs Day Tweetchat at 1 p.m. ET on Friday using the hashtag #BeyondTheNumbers.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

• The economy is slowly recovering but millions of workers remain on the sidelines. The economy continues to recover from the pandemic but is still missing over 4 million jobs. Unaffordable child care and fears over the virus continue to discourage people from returning to work.
• Our path to economic recovery has been deeply unequal. Even as overall unemployment continues to tick down, the Black unemployment rate remains nearly double that of the white unemployment rate. For Hispanic and Latinx workers, the unemployment rate is also disproportionately high.
• The pandemic exacerbated these deep inequalities in our labor market — but it did not create them. For decades, policymakers have gutted public investments, cut taxes for wealthy people and corporations, and enacted racist and sexist policies that have systematically devalued the work of women and workers of color.
• Policymakers must deliver sustained and targeted investments to the most marginalized communities as quickly as possible. It’s past time we made large-scale and long-overdue public investments to get people back to work and build a resilient economy that works for everyone.

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Groundwork Collaborative: The Groundwork Collaborative’s mission is to advance an economic vision for strong, broadly shared prosperity and true opportunity for all.