Majority of Ohio’s Black workers lost income in pandemic

About 53% of Black households in Ohio have lost employment income since March 13 as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic and related business shutdowns, layoffs and furloughs, new census data shows.

That was the highest share of job-based income loss for any major racial group in the state and about 10 percentage points higher than the share for whites, according to the Census Bureau's new "Household Pulse Survey,'' conducted June 11-16.

The Ohio numbers mirror the national trend, according to the federal survey launched nearly two months ago to study how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting households socially and economically.

The emailed survey asks how jobs, finances, access to food, health, housing and schooling have been affected by the ongoing crisis.

Blacks in Ohio ranked at or near the bottom in every category, including food sufficiency, the ability to make mortgage and rent payments and access to medical care.

The lack of access to medical care can be attributed in part to the loss of employer-sponsored insurance, which leaves many Blacks more vulnerable to the ravages of the COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.

Blacks have already suffered more from COVID-19 incidences and mortality than most other groups.

While Blacks make up just 12.5% of the U.S. population, they account for about a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths nationwide and are five times more likely than whites to be hospitalized with the disease, according to figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through June 12.

Only non-Hispanic American Indians or Alaska Natives have a higher rate of hospitalization, according to the CDC.

The numbers are similar in Ohio, where Blacks make up about 14% of the population but accounted for about 19% of the 2,863 COVID-19-related deaths in Ohio reported by state officials last Tuesday.

The pandemic, layoffs and underlying causes of the protests against police brutality and racial injustice will challenge everyone’s financial and physical health going forward, said Zach Schiller, research director at Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank with offices in Columbus and Cleveland.

But long-standing, systemic wealth and racial disparities put Blacks, Hispanics and other racial minorities at greater risk, Schiller said.

“The virus has exposed some of the real racial disparities in America in a new way ... but it’s become much more serious because the differences are even more magnified,″ he said.

For example, Schiller noted that many low-wage Blacks and Hispanics in Ohio are among so-called essential workers, including grocery store employees, delivery drivers and nurses’ aides, who continue to go to work, risking their health and that of their families.

Meanwhile, many white workers in higher-paying jobs don't have to face such dangerous working conditions because they can continue to work from the safety of their homes.

To make matters worse, Blacks and Hispanics continue to face more job insecurity because of the coronavirus.

"It's like being hit with a double-whammy,'' Schiller said. "On one hand, you have more Blacks and Latinos among the essential workers and exposed to the virus, but at the same time they are more likely to work in occupations that are being negatively affected by the economic collapse.''

The government stepped in with some relief in March when Congress passed a $2 trillion aid package, including coronavirus stimulus checks, to give the economy a quick adrenaline shot

But most low-income workers who qualified for stimulus checks of up to $1,200 for individuals and more for married couples and those with dependent children spent the money almost as soon as they got it, with most of it going toward groceries and paying bills, according to the Household Pulse Survey.

Meanwhile, other short-term fixes — including temporary debt relief for mortgages and other loans, and an emergency $600 extra a week in jobless benefits — are soon set to expire.