claim: In COVID-19 crisis, “only 20% of African Americans had jobs where they could work from home.”
evidence: The commonly paired statements that "everyone is working from home" and "everyone is having their goods delivered" amid the coronavirus outbreak ignores a whole segment of the workforce—the ones prepping and delivering their purchases. In fact, less than 30% of workers can work from home, and the ability to work from home differs enormously by race and ethnicity. The chart below separates the share of workers who can telework for the three largest race groups as well as by Hispanic ethnicity (these groups are not mutually exclusive in these data). Asian workers are the most likely to be able to work from home, followed by non-Hispanic and white workers. Only 16.2% of Hispanic workers and 19.7% of black workers can telework. Less than one in five black workers and roughly one in six Hispanic workers are able to work from home: Share of workers who can telework, by race and ethnicity, 2017--2018