Online directory aims to help Black businesses thrive in nation’s whitest state

The economic impacts of the pandemic also have been greater and persisted longer for people of color, James Myall of the left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy, reported.

Based on his analysis of the latest U.S. Census and Maine Department of Labor data released Oct. 20, Myall found that different racial groups in Maine started with low unemployment before the pandemic, but unemployment among the Black workforce showed the greatest increase, peaking at about 30 percent in May, compared to 15 percent for the white unemployment rate. In August, 15 percent of the Black workforce was still unemployed compared to 6 percent of the white workforce.

Click here to read the full story, first published November 22, 2020, in The Maine Monitor.