MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Economics Seminar Series 

"Recovery for All? The Intersectional Unemployment Gap in the US Labour Market"

by

Armağan Gezici

(University of the West of England, Bristol)

Date: April 15, 2024 (Monday)

Time: 14:00

Synchronous Online Seminar

MS Teams Platform

MS Teams Link

Meeting ID: 246 506 859 070

Passcode: ZyU89E

Abstract

This study examines the evolution of intersectional unemployment gaps in the US labor market during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recovery period. Utilizing monthly Current Population Survey data from January 2018 to December 2022, we employ event history regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods to analyze unemployment disparities across race and gender identities, focusing on Black women, Black men, Hispanic women, Hispanic men, and White women, relative to White men.

Our findings reveal that while Black men and Hispanic men's unemployment gaps returned to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021, Hispanic women's gap persisted through 2021, and Black women experienced further increases, with gaps remaining through 2022. The decomposition analysis shows that more than half of the unemployment gap for Black women and men remains unexplained by observable characteristics such as education, age, family status, state of residence, industry, and occupation, regardless of labor market conditions. In contrast, gaps for Hispanic men and women are largely explained by these factors.

The substantial unexplained unemployment disparities, particularly for Black women, suggest the presence of systemic inequities and discrimination compounding the pandemic's unequal economic impacts across race and gender identities. Our findings underscore the importance of studying inequalities at the intersectional level and highlight the need for targeted, race- and gender-conscious policy approaches to address structural barriers and ensure broadly shared prosperity in the labor market.