In the US, Black workers account for 15 million of the 125 million private sector workers at around 12%. The overall Black labour force, including the entire private and public sector, and the unemployed looking for work is 20.6 million. The concentration of the Black labour force by geography, industry, and occupation produces significant challenges and mismatches.

The Black labour force is underrepresented in the highest growth geographies and the highest paying industries and are overrepresented in low growth geographies and in frontline jobs, which tend to pay less. Black workers are in places with less opportunity for advancement and where job growth will be low. For instance, almost 60% or 11.8 million of the Black labour force is concentrated in Southern states, compared to just one-third of the rest of private-sector workers. With 43% of Black private-sector workers earning less than US$30,000 per year, in comparison to the 29% of the rest of the private sector, companies located in states with underrepresented Black populations will need to effectively reassess and do more to attract Black talent.

Automation will prove disruptive to the Black labour force in the following years as they have a higher risk of disproportionately being disrupted from automation with one-third of Black workers in labour intensive means of production. Lastly, Black workers face higher hurdles to gainful employment than the rest of the labour force, creating stark disparities in job prospects between Black and White workers of similar backgrounds. The employment rate for Black workers with some college or an associate degree are similar to the total population of workers who have a high-school diploma.

Black employees face five common challenges in that materially affect black representation, advancement, and experience:

1. Frontline jobs lack sufficient opportunity for upward mobility
2. Entry level jobs have a high turnover rate as black employee attrition is high.
3. Representational disparity between entry-level to managerial jobs within black employees
4. A trust deficit exists between Black employees and their companies.
5. Black employees lack the sponsorship and peer support for upward mobility

At the current trajectory, it will take about 95 years for Black employees to reach 12% representation or talent parity across all levels in the private sector. Addressing these major barriers that hold back the advancement of Black employees could cut that duration to about 25 years.  Their successes could hold the key to more favourable outcomes across the private sector. Research suggests companies can take several actions within their own workplace culture:

• Define the company’s aspiration for addressing racial equity to include steps to address structural barriers
• Understand the company’s current state of diversity, equity and inclusion taking into account industry and geographic contexts
• Strategically prioritise interventions
• Reinforce implementational success and reimagine implementational failures
• Track progress to increase accountability and distribute successes
• Share best practices on effective programs
• Pursue collaborative efforts to galvanise collective action
• Maintain commitments to continued investment and research

1. The Black labour force accounts for 12% of the private sector yet is underrepresented in areas with highest of growth opportunities and paying industries. Fewer than one in ten Black workers live in the country’s highest growth geographies.
2. The employment rate for Black workers with some college or an associate’s degree are similar to the total population of workers who have a high-school diploma.
3. At the current trajectory, it will take about 95 years for Black employees to reach 12% representation or talent parity across all levels in the private sector. Addressing these issues of disparity will reduce the duration to 25 years.
4. Black employees substantially lack significant peer and community support to promote their advancement.
5. Companies need to further integrate, engage and develop alongside Black employees in order to reduce the disparity in the private sector.
6. Nine in ten Black employees believe they are helping their company succeed and that their work gives them a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
7. The Black labor force has a 94 percent employment rate, and if Black workers were employed at the same rate as the rest of the labour force, an additional 480,000 Black workers would be employed in the private sector.
8. There is significant underrepresentation in industries such as information technology, professional services, and financial services—all sectors that typically have relatively higher wages and higher job growth.
9. 43 percent of Black workers—approximately 6.5 million people—make less than $30,000 annually, compared with 29 percent of the rest of workers. If Black workers were equally represented in jobs across wage levels, an additional two million Black workers would make $30,000 or more.
10. One-third of Black workers, or five million people, are in jobs that will likely be vulnerable to automation over the next decade. Given the disproportionate impact on Black workers, a key consideration is to accelerate reskilling and support occupational transition.