Black Illinoisans still hurt most by COVID-19 job losses despite strong 2021

Nearly 17% of the jobs held by Black Illinoisans prior to the COVID-19 pandemic are still missing, nearly triple the loss of white Illinoisans.

Illinoisans who were hurt the most by COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020 – Black men and all women – gained the most in 2021, but are still behind where they were before COVID-19 derailed the economy.

Illinois added 262,600 jobs (+4.7%) in 2021, according to data released Jan. 21 by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The data shows Illinois is continuing to make progress but remains behind where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic and government-mandated shutdowns in March 2020.

Female Illinoisans saw their payrolls increase by 5.8%, or 155,983 jobs, which accounts for 60% of employment growth in 2021. Meanwhile, Black males experienced the most robust employment growth rate, growing payrolls by 25.3%.

In total, Black, non-Hispanic Illinoisans experienced the strongest growth in employment, adding 84,829 jobs (+15.4%) during 2021. White, non-Hispanic Illinoisans added the largest raw number of jobs at 113,637, but their payrolls only grew 3.2%.

Smaller subsets of the population who identify as Asian, Native, or multi-racial also experienced strong employment growth from December 2020-December 2021, adding more than 50,000 jobs (+9.9%). Hispanic Illinoisans saw their job counts remain fairly stagnant, growing 13,923 (+1.3%) during the year.

While 2021 was a good year for jobs growth across virtually all groups, the state is still a long way off of pre-pandemic job levels. There are still 251,900 jobs missing relative to January 2020 when nonfarm payrolls peaked. Those job losses are primarily concentrated among Black and white Illinoisans.

Across the board employment of white Illinoisans remains down 6.1% with 235,978 jobs missing compared to early 2020. The situation is even worse for Black Illinoisans, whose employment is down 16.7%, accounting for 126,950 missing jobs.  Heavier job losses among Black Illinoisans as a result of COVID-19 and state-mandated lockdowns has served to widen pre-existing racial gaps in Illinois, which were already more severe than the rest of the nation.

While politicians, most notably the Biden Administration, have tried to portray the 2021 figures as a monumental achievement in record economic growth, the nation, and particularly Illinois, remain in worse condition now than at the beginning of 2020. Only Texas, Arizona, Utah and Idaho have recouped their pandemic job losses.

Making matters worse for Illinois, record outmigration and population decline threaten to prevent the state’s economy from ever returning to pre-pandemic employment levels. Reduced labor market prospects will also make closing racial gaps in employment more difficult.