Job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic were highly uneven, exacerbating existing inequities in Philadelphia.
As discussed in our recent policy brief Increasing Inequities, the effects of the COVID-19 economic crisis in Philadelphia have been highly uneven. By race and ethnicity, industry of employment, and where workers call home, those that have experienced the greatest impacts are those that have traditionally been excluded from the economic mainstream.
Using unemployment claims data from the State of Pennsylvania and the 2019 American Community Survey, this visualization shows concentrations of claims by census tract and the similar spatial patterns of poverty, unemployment, labor force participation, and educational attainment that preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. A more in-depth discussion on these patterns can be found in our recent research supplement Patterns of Spatial Inequity.
