Report: Anti-Black racism dominates Canada’s labor market

Higher earnings and lower unemployment rates in 2022 reduced the employment gap in Canada between employees of color and white workers, but reports indicate the nation’s anti-Black racism dominated its labor market.

According to The Toronto Star, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives analysis, issued Wednesday, revealed that the benefits of the epidemic recovery, such as salary increases, have not been equally dispersed for employees of color, with the income and employment gap between Black people and their white counterparts in Canada widening.

The report defines racialized employees — who are sometimes known as visible minorities — as anyone who is neither Caucasian nor white, excluding Indigenous communities.

In Canada, higher earnings and lower unemployment rates in 2022 reduced the employment gap between employees of color and white workers, but the country’s anti-Black racism reportedly dominated its labor market. (Photo: Adobe Stock)

“Despite some progress for racialized workers as a whole, Black workers continue to bear a disproportionate burden of employment inequality,” said report co-author Grace-Edward Galabuzi, a Toronto Metropolitan University professor. “These data demonstrate the need for continued policy efforts to combat anti-Black racism in the workplace.”

The study discovered that racialized individuals are generally more likely to work in industries seeing rapid salary increases and strong employment growth compared to Black workers. There is also an overrepresentation of Black workers in lower-paying jobs.

Compared to 48% of white workers and 60% of Black workers, 52% of racialized workers hold jobs in the lower half of the wage distribution in Canada.

According to the CCPA analysis, in 2022, the unemployment rate decreased for all workers of color by 2.9 percentage points, 2.1 percentage points for white workers, and 1.6 percentage points for Black workers.

Black and racialized men across Canada still earn less than their white counterparts, despite wages rising during the pandemic, while Black and racialized women also face significant obstacles.

“There’s a structural problem here that starts with our education system,” Galabuzi maintained, The Star reported. “Especially with Black youth, they’re not encouraged to go into higher-earning professions in the same way as their white counterparts, and tackle prejudices in grade school and post-secondary education.”

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