Boston Business Journal, August 2023
Black Massachusetts residents have grown their labor participation rate faster than the overall population, fueled by young- to middle-aged workers who could help ease an acute labor shortage, say local economists. The rate of unemployed Black residents hit a new low at the start of 2023, according to data and analysis by the state Department of Economic Research. While it has climbed since then, that appears to be because Black residents grew their workforce at a faster rate (2.7%) than the overall employed population growth of 0.7%.
Black so-called “prime-age workers”—those who are 25 to 54 years old—have gotten jobs faster than all prime-age workers since 2021. The employment rate of such workers now just 0.3 percentage points lower than that of white residents, the smallest gap since at least 2015, according to data provided by DER.
