Life as a Black College Grad in 2021
Imagine graduating from college in 2020 and stepping into a world defined by a global pandemic, economic instability, and racial unrest.
2020 wasn’t an easy year for anyone, but it was especially challenging for Black college graduates. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the economy, resulting in massive unemployment and forcing organizations to either radically shift how they did business or to shut down temporarily or permanently. The pandemic has had a greater impact on communities of color as well, with increased illness and death, and compounded economic hardship.
But the pandemic wasn’t the only thing impacting society in 2020. The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 set off months of Black Lives Matter protests and marches reflecting long-standing, deep-seated frustration at unfair policies and the call for the reform of systemic racism found in every area of society.
While the protests inspired companies to promise new practices and approaches to representation, were any of those promises turned into action? Are Black employees hopeful that there will be lasting change around diversity and inclusion efforts, spurred on by the protests?
We created this report because we wanted to learn more about how recent Black college graduates were surviving in the current job market. We also wanted to gain their insights into how they saw the increased awareness around racial injustice influencing their workplaces’ approaches to diversity and inclusion efforts — or if they didn’t see it making an impact at all.
Methodology
On February 3, 2021, we surveyed 403 Black men and women who had graduated college in the past 12 months to learn more about their current employment experience, job outlook, and views towards the tragic events that happened in 2020.
Key Findings
In addition to information around current employment status, we also discovered some notable facts about their experience with race in the workplace. Here are a few key findings from our pool of respondents:
83% are employed or in an internship, and 64% are working in their field. Despite the pandemic causing massive upheaval in every industry, recent graduates are doing relatively well, though many are still striving to make ends meet.
37% said their race affected their ability to get a job. Despite efforts at recruiting more diverse workforces, respondents believe that race still had an impact on them finding work.
Workplace and school responses to the protests were lacking. While some were highly impressed with how their school or workplace responded to the racial unrest happening across the country, many felt the responses were lacking.
Only 41% believe workplaces are making diversity a focus. Less than half of our respondents saw leadership active in diversity and inclusion initiatives. Additionally, 25% of respondents see that diversity and inclusion initiatives have not changed from what they were a year ago.
39% had experienced racism at work, and 37% had experienced it at school. A high number of our respondents reported that racism is still prevalent in educational and professional spaces.
73% believe workplace change will come through more representation, rather than through training programs. Respondents believe that seeing more diversity in leadership and in the workforce will be significantly more impactful than other initiatives.
Part 1: Profile of Who We Surveyed
In order to learn more about the experience of Black individuals entering the workforce, on February 3, 2021 we interviewed 403 men and women who had graduated college in the past 12 months. Of those individuals, the gender breakdown was about even: 51% female and 49% male.
Our respondents might have been recent graduates, but they were not all in their early twenties. Only 33% were between the ages of 18 and 24. 27.5% were between the ages of 25 and 34, and the remaining 39.5% were recent college graduates 35 or older. This means that our respondents came from a variety of experiences and situations that informed their answers.
They’ve graduated from a variety of colleges
First, we wanted to know what kind of school they recently graduated from, and found that there was a range of educational experiences. The majority (28.3%) had recently graduated from a public college, which was slightly more than the number who graduated from a community college (26.1%). 20.1% had graduated from a private college, and 13.6% recently finished training at a vocational or trade school.
Top majors were business and nursing
What majors did our respondents graduate with? The most popular was business — we’ll see later that many of our respondents are self-employed — and nursing, which would be especially valuable during this pandemic climate. Other popular majors included accounting, computer science, and psychology.
They come from a variety of economic backgrounds
We also discovered that our respondents came from a variety of economic backgrounds, ranging from families with annual household incomes of less than $15,000 (10.2%) to incomes over $200,000 (8.7%), with even distribution between.
27% are employed full time, and 21% are self-employed
Finally, we wanted to know what our respondents’ employment status is, now that they’ve graduated — also understanding that many may have already been in the workforce for a while. The majority (26.8%) are currently employed full-time, and 20.3% are employed part-time. 14.1% are currently doing internships. However, 17.4% are still unemployed and job-seeking.
What’s notable is that a large number of respondents (21.3%) are currently self-employed. This could either be by intention, or a response to being laid off during the pandemic. Either way, these individuals are introducing new Black-owned businesses or services into the economy.
Summary
What this data tells us is that there is no singular Black college graduate experience. Many of our respondents graduated college in their early twenties, but many went later. Some sought traditional full-time employment, and others are their own boss. Some went to vocational schools while others went to private colleges. Some are English majors, some are business majors, some are engineers, and some are biologists.
What this means is that Black job seekers are bringing a vast array of experiences, interests, skills, and vision to the workforce, and recruiters have a great opportunity to see how these talents can help further their organization’s mission.
Part 2: Black College Graduate Employment Status and Experience
Recent college graduates have entered an unusual job market affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has fundamentally changed how industries and workplaces function, and forced an economic downturn and massive unemployment. We wanted to know how our respondents are weathering the pandemic and if they are indeed finding success in their employment.
64% are working in their field
Ideally, every new graduate would find a position in their major, though that’s not always the case when entering the workforce. Still, we found that 64% of our respondents were working in their field.
Those who took a job not in their field did so to cover living expenses or support family
For the 36% of respondents who were not working in their field, we wanted to know the reason why they took the job they did. The majority (29.4%) replied that they did so to cover their living expenses. An additional 25.5% replied that they did so to support their family. 19.6% cited not being able to find a job related to their major, and 7.8% took their current role as a career pivot.
Paying the bills or supporting the family have always been valid reasons for a job seeker to take a position outside of their field. But these responses were in the context of the pandemic, an extended period of economic uncertainty and unemployment when taking any job you could get might’ve been necessary for survival. These respondents could have been facing their own income challenges or might have needed to support family members who lost their jobs.
47% have held their current role through the pandemic, with the rest hired during it
For those employed, we wanted to know how long they had been in their current role as recent graduates. 26.6% had been in their current role for over 12 months, which means they started their current positions before the pandemic hit — and were still there. 20.1% have been in their jobs for six months to a year, and 26.6% have been in their current position for three to six months. 15.8% have new positions that are only one to three months old, with 10.8% having just started.
These numbers simply show that our employed respondents are either still in the same position from before the pandemic, which means they were not subject to layoffs, or that they were hired during the pandemic, in the midst of incredibly high unemployment.
Those looking for full-time work believe it will take another 3–6 months
For those who are not working full-time, we wanted to know what their outlook was on finding work. 15.8% believed that they could find work in less than a month, while 18.2% believed it would be one to three months for them. The majority (21.5%) believed it might be three to six months. 15.3% were looking at six months to a year, and 13.9% believed it might be a year or more before they were able to find work. Additionally, 15.3% weren’t sure when they’d find a full-time position.
The majority of our respondents believing that they’d find full-time employment within three to six months aligns with the projected timeline for mass vaccinations and the reopening of the economy around summer 2021. That will be a time of more opportunity as workplaces and industries begin to reopen and bounce back.
36% have a better job experience than anticipated
Next, we wanted to know how those who are employed feel about the quality of their current job, including their salary, the number of hours they’re working, their co-workers, benefits, and more. 36% replied that their experience was better than what they had expected from a workplace — in other words, they seem to be enjoying their job. 25.2% responded that it was about what they had expected. Unfortunately, 20.1% find their experience lacking, and worse than what they had expected.
34% are receiving a higher annual income than anticipated
Similarly, 33.8% of our respondents felt that their annual income was better than what they had expected, with 34.5% saying it was about what they had expected. Like the last question, 18.7% believed their income was worse than they anticipated upon graduation.
Summary
Black recent graduates are entering the job market or making a career switch at a very challenging time. Fortunately, there’s a bit of positive news. Many of those employed have kept their job through the pandemic, and many were actually hired during it. In terms of job duties, hours, co-workers, benefits, income, and more, over a third found that their work experience exceeded what they had hoped it would be. Finally, 64% are working in their field of study
However, many are taking jobs outside of their field simply to support themselves or their families — and that need for survival has been especially high this past year. Those still looking for full-time work (whether unemployed or employed part-time) are looking at a three to six-month horizon for finding a permanent position, right around the projected reopening of businesses as the pandemic winds down.
Part 3: Workplaces, Racism, and the Response to the 2020 Protests
The past year also saw a movement of social unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Protests calling for reform, equity, and the recognition that Black Lives Matter arose all over the country, forcing a reckoning on how the nation should better understand individual bias and systemic racism. But did those protests change anything, especially when it comes to representation in the workplace?
37% believe their race impacted their ability to get a job
We wanted to know if they felt race played a role in their ability to find the job they wanted. 46.6% felt race didn’t play a role: 24.8% strongly agreed that race had no impact on their ability to find the job they wanted, and 21.8% somewhat agreed. However, 36.5% believed that race did have an impact on being able to find the job they wanted — which is still too high of a number.
39% had experienced racism at work
We wanted to know if our respondents have experienced racism at their workplace. Again, we encountered another number that is too high: 38.5% of replied that they had experienced racism at work.
37% experienced racism at school
When asked about experiencing racism at their college, the response was similar: 37% of respondents had experienced racism in their educational setting.
Workplace responses to the racial protests were lacking
During the protests of the summer of 2020, many organizations sent both internal memos and public press releases affirming the need for change. We wanted to know how our respondents felt about that. Only 15.7% stated that they were highly impressed with the response, with the majority (31.4%) replying that they were mildly impressed with the response. This seems to suggest that respondents acknowledged that something was done — a statement condemning racism perhaps, or a commitment to more diverse practices — but weren’t confident that it made any lasting change.
9.8% were mildly disappointed in the response, and 11.8% were highly disappointed. 7.8% replied that their workplace didn’t take any action, but that it didn’t bother them.
School responses to the racial protests were also lacking
Next, we wanted to know how they thought the school they recently graduated from responded to the racial protests. More of our respondents were highly impressed (21.6%) with their school’s response than they were with their workplace’s, with only 14.4% saying they were mildly impressed. But more respondents were disappointed with the response: 14.4% were mildly disappointed, and 12.2% were highly disappointed. 13.7% replied that they didn’t take any action but that they weren’t bothered by that.
Only 33% believe the summer protests will change society
Did our respondents believe that there would be lasting change from the summer’s protests? 33.3% were hopeful that there would be, but 25.1% believed there wouldn’t be any lasting change, with 23.8% unsure if there would be.
Workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives have remained the same
In comparing their workplace today (February 2021) to one year before (February 2020, a few months before the summer protests), the majority of our respondents (24.8%) saw that the state of diversity and inclusion had not changed. 19.9% saw their workplaces being “somewhat better” and 18.9% said it was “much better,” for a total of 38.8% seeing improvements around diversity and inclusion initiatives. However, 26.3% of respondents believed that diversity and inclusion was not improving, with 14.1% saying it was “somewhat worse” and 12.2% saying it was “much worse.”
Only 41% believe leaders are making diversity and inclusion a focus
Next, we wanted to know what initiatives their workplaces were taking around issues of diversity and inclusion, and if corporate leadership was making it a focus. Only 41% believed senior leadership was making it a major focus: 21.1% strongly agreed and 19.9% somewhat agreed. Nearly the same amount of respondents (36%) believed that their senior leadership was not making diversity and inclusion a focus: 18.6% somewhat disagreed and 17.4% strongly disagreed. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.1%) weren’t sure.
72.5% want more diversity across the workforce, not more programs
The big question remains: “What should organizations do when it comes to initiatives or actions in the workplace around diversity and inclusion?” According to our respondents, the most impactful thing workplaces could do is to have more representation in the workforce:
- 25.3% wanted more diversity in management positions
- 24.1% wanted more diversity in HR and recruiting positions
- 23.1% wanted more diversity in the workforce itself
Only 14.9% felt that organizations should focus on more diversity and inclusion training programs.
This means that our respondents believe that in order to truly affect change around representation and inclusion, workplaces need to put in the effort to attract, hire, and promote a more diverse workforce. Another one-and-done program is no longer sufficient.
Summary
Our respondents affirm that racism is prevalent everywhere: in their schools, in their job search, and in their workplaces. Additionally, while there was some positivity around workplace responses to the racial protests, and while some respondents see leaders putting diversity and inclusion initiatives at the forefront, our respondents are not convinced that it’s enough. There’s no switch that a workplace can flip that will eliminate racism and create an inclusive workforce — there has to be deliberate thinking and efforts taken towards authentic representation. This is why nearly three-quarters of our respondents believed that the answer lies in not having more training programs, but in actually having more minority representation in management positions, in HR and recruiting positions, and across the workforce overall.
Conclusion
Of the two major events that impacted society in 2020 — the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests against racial injustice — it seems like only the pandemic will be the one to spark immediate and radical changes in how workplaces function. While the awareness of the need to combat racial biases in recruiting and create a more diverse workforce has been on the to-do list of companies for a while, many organizations are still at a loss for how to approach that — even after a year of events that have forced both individuals and society to reexamine their understanding around systemic racism.
As we all already know, having minority representation throughout every societal institution can’t be fixed overnight, and it will take effort to create workforces that are representative of all people. But the effort will be worth it.
