UPDATE 2-Pandemic job pain fell unevenly on minorities and the poor, NY Fed researchers found

(Adds details on disparities by education)

By Jonnelle Marte

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Black workers, women and others inlow-paying jobs were more likely to become unemployed during thepandemic, faced greater health risks if they did keep workingand are being pushed out of the labor market at faster rates,according to research released by the Federal Reserve Bank ofNew York on Tuesday.

In one of the most detailed examinations so far of theunequal toll levied on communities of color by the pandemic,researchers at the New York Fed illustrated in a series of blogposts https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2021/02/some-workers-have-been-hit-much-harder-than-others-by-the-pandemic.htmlthe various setbacks those workers faced during the crisis.

The labor market outcomes were starkly different alongracial lines. Black workers saw a more significant rise inunemployment and were more likely to drop out of the laborforce, the New York Fed researchers found.

"The COVID recession, like most post-war recessions, has haddisproportionate effects on the Black population," theresearchers wrote.

Researchers found that by December white workers wereleaving the labor force at the same rate as in pre-pandemictimes but the exit rate for Black workers had "increaseddramatically."

The exodus could have long-lasting effects and threatens toerase the gains Black workers experienced during the record-longeconomic expansion that followed the Great Recession, theanalysts said. "This relatively high rate of labor force exitfor Black workers may lead to a persistently elevatedBlack-white labor force participation gap and an uneven labormarket recovery."

LOW-WAGE WORKERS HIT HARD

Low-wage workers, including many women and minority workers,accounted for the vast majority of the job losses during thecrisis and are facing a slower recovery, the researchers said.

Employment for high-wage workers, those earning above$85,000 a year, fully recovered by December and even rose abovepre-pandemic levels. But employment of low-wage workers, orthose earning less than $30,000 a year, was still 14% belowpre-crisis levels - and falling.

The unequal outcomes can be linked in part to the fact thatmany low-income workers were employed in the leisure andhospitality industry, which was heavily affected by shutdownsand is facing reduced demand.

Unlike many higher-earning professionals who pivoted toworking from home last March, many low-wage workers held jobsthat had to be done in person - including work in healthcare,retail, construction and agriculture. That made them moresusceptible to job losses, and put them at greater risk ofinfection when they were able to work, the researchers said.

Using cell phone location data, the economists found thatpeople living in low-income areas and those in communities wherethe population was largely made up of minorities were morelikely to resume their commutes after businesses began to reopenlast April. People in higher-income areas, and those in areaswith fewer minorities, were more likely to stay home.

Workers with lower levels of education also faced higherrates of joblessness. Employment of people with high schooldegrees was down 7% from pre-pandemic levels as of December. Butcollege graduates had a shortfall of only 2%.

Some of the gaps in employment between low-wage andhigh-wage workers, and between minority workers and whiteworkers, narrowed last year during the recovery as more peoplefound work.

But after a resurgence of infections over the winter led tomore shutdowns, the burden once again fell on the same workers,and those gaps began to widen.(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte in New YorkEditing by Andrea Ricci and Matthew Lewis)