Black Nebraskans Disproportionately Impacted by Pandemic Unemployment
By Becca Costello, NET News
Sept. 24, 2020, 5:14 p.m. ·
About 134,000 Nebraskans have been paid unemployment benefits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
That amounts to more than $1.1 billion, mostly from the temporary federal benefit of an extra $600 a week.
Data from the state Department of Labor shows Black Nebraskans make up about 26% of claims for the past four weeks, despite being only 5.2% of the state population.
Other minority populations are not as disproportionately impacted. White Nebraskans are 88% of the population and made up 58.9% of unemployment claims over the past four weeks.