Favored hiring of people from other racial groups instead of Blacks may have contributed to a higher unemployment rate.
Presenting a thought-provoking take: The latest unemployment rate for Black Americans may have risen because of a recent rash of anti-DEI efforts, mainly from the education and corporate sectors.
He stressed a reason for the rising unemployment rate for Blacks, along with the decrease and stability in rates for Whites, Asians, and Hispanics, is the preferential hiring of Asian and Hispanic individuals over Black individuals.
“We attribute this to systemic biases and to growing anti-Black hiring practices due, in part, to recent anti-DEI efforts,” Cunningham tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.
At the same time, he says major companies, including Meta, Tesla, Door Dash, Lyft, Home Depot, Wayfair, and X, cut DEI team headcounts. Also, Google, Zoom, and Snap have either cut or outsourced their DEI efforts.
“These actions illustrate a direct correlation between the reduction of DEI roles and increased Black unemployment,” he says.
On a positive note, Cunningham says there has been an increase in the Black labor participation rate, meaning more Blacks are looking for work. He says that higher activity shows Blacks are still job hunting despite anti-DEI efforts.
Source: Black Enterprise
