Michigan’s Black unemployment is third highest in the nation and women, especially mothers, are vanishing from the workforce by the tens of thousands.
February 24, 2021
Detroit News Opinion: Whitmer’s COVID-19 Restrictions Hurt Minorities, Women More
Michigan Rising Action executive director Tori Sachs discusses how Gov. Whitmer’s pandemic restrictions are hurting women and minorities in an op-ed in today’s Detroit News.
If you listen to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s public remarks, she talks often about minorities, women and the poor. The impacts of her policies, however, are negatively impacting them. Michigan’s Black unemployment is third highest in the nation and women, especially mothers, are vanishing from the workforce by the tens of thousands.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Black unemployment in Michigan is nearly 14%, the third-highest in the nation and up from 7% in the first quarter of 2020.
- A report last year by the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve found that working mothers in states with early stay-at-home orders and school closures were 68.8% more likely to take leave from their jobs than working mothers in states where closures happened later.
- In Michigan, 39,000 women left the workforce in 2020. Many of these women are mothers who lost their jobs due to state shutdowns or were forced to leave their job to help their young children with virtual school.
- Whitmer’s restrictions forced 32% of Michigan businesses to close at least temporarily in 2020. The restaurant industry alone has reportedly lost 143,300 jobs.
Read the full article: Opinion: Gov. Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions hurt minorities, women more