Employment in Black America

Employment

Although African Americans have an unemployment rate almost double that of the overall population, the Black workforce is just as diverse. Because the federal government was one of the first to integrate, African Americans have been over represented in that sector. Black women have made the greatest strides recently. Today 31% of Black women are in management or professional occupations compared to just 21% of Black men.

$31,041 Black Median household income (dollars)

(all races $46,242)

$44,022 Black Mean earnings (dollars)

(all races $63,834)

African American population 16 years and over 26,165,018

(all races 223,524,814)

Blacks

(all usa)

Private wage and salary workers

Government workers

Self-employed workers

Unpaid family workers

Employed

Unemployed

Armed Forces

Not in labor force

Percent of civilian labor force

OCCUPATION

Black civilian employed population 16 years and over is 14,845,338 (all races136,458,810)

Black Male Occupations

Black Male civilian employed population 16 years and over is 6,901,375

(all races 73,235,422)

Black Female Occupations

Black Female civilian employed population 16 years and over is 7,943,963

(all races 63,223,388)

INDUSTRY

The below chart categorizes the African American workforce by industry. As you can see we are again overrepresented in government jobs such as education and social assistance. African Americans also have a large presence in the health care industry which is expected to continue growing for the foreseeable future.

COMMUTING TO WORK

Car, truck, or van - drove alone

Public transportation (excluding taxicab)

Walked

Worked at home

Mean travel time to work (minutes)

More than twice as many African Americans use puplic transportation than that of all Americans, That makes for higher average commute times to work.

Black

71%

11%

27.5

all USA

77%

25.1

Income

Although incomes for African Americans have improved significantly since the Civil Rights era, they are still lower then the average Americans. For example the median income for Black families is $20 thousand less than the American median income. These charts also prove that there is a substantial benefit for those in a married-couple family no matter what race or ethnicity.

INCOME

INCOME BY FAMILY TYPE

WELFARE/OTHER INCOME

6% of African Americans receive public cash assistance which is twice that of the national share. But even more startling, is the fact that 20% of Blacks receive some sort of food stamp assistance.