Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, and Robert James, II, President of Carver Financial Corporation join.

Jobs

• The Black unemployment rate was 5.7% in September, near historic lows. The Black unemployment rate was 9.3% when President Biden took office.
• 2023 was the lowest year for Black unemployment on record.
• 16 million jobs have been created since President Biden took office, including nearly 2.4 million jobs for Black workers—achieving one of the lowest gaps between Black and White unemployment on record.
• Prime-age Black women have seen their labor force participation rates climb by about 3% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Wages/Wealth

• Real wages for Black Americans grew over 5% between 2019 and the four-quarters ending in Q3 2024.
• Black net worth is up 60% between 2019 and 2022 and the Black-white wealth gap is at its narrowest level in nearly 20 years.

Housing

• Black homeownership rates increased by 3.5 percentage points from 2019 through the four-quarters ending in Q2 2024. In the years of the Financial Crisis, Black homeownership had dropped 1.75 percentage points.
• As of Q2 2024, 37% of Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) homeowners self-identified as Black.
• In 2021, eviction filing rates in Black neighborhoods were less than half their historic average.
• 41% of ERA payments have gone to Black families as of Q1 2024.

Child Poverty

• Over 800,000 Black children were lifted out of poverty in 2021 through the expansion of the Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan, helping drive the child poverty rate for Black children to its lowest level on record.

Small Business

• The number of Black households owning a business has more than doubled since 2019.
• Black business ownership is up 6.2 percentage points from 2019 to 2022 to 11%, the highest rate in history.
• In 2021, Black-owned companies employed 1.4 million people and paid over $50 billion in annual payroll.

· The number of Black workers that were self-employed—a measure of entrepreneurship—increased by over 30% from 2019 through 2024.

· The number and dollar value of SBA-backed loans to Black-owned businesses have more than doubled since 2020. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has now surpassed the $1 billion mark in lending to Black-owned small businesses for the third year, almost double 2019 lending amounts.