Over the past few years, Mrs. Jones has been developing one central philosophy: because black women have historically focused on low-paying care jobs which are often excluded from employment laws and advantages akin to National Insurance, they’ve accrued less wealth and experienced worse health outcomes. Moreover, Jones argues, helping black women – through measures akin to raising wages in care jobs and canceling more student debt – is the most effective approach to construct an economy that works higher for everybody.
Labor organizing and union drives
In 2020, she dubbed her storytelling “Best Black Women”. She got here up with it while working for a progressive nonprofit called the Groundwork Collaborative, which ran focus groups across the country to search out a narrative on how the economy should work for working people.
“They were like, ‘I would not wish to be drained,'” Ms. Jones recalled of the attendees. “I need to purchase school supplies.” “I need to know that if my automobile breaks down, because I feel it’d, I won’t lose my apartment.” She thought that solving these basic problems for individuals with the least resources would lift the job market from the underside up.
Her premise, which she articulated in working document for the Roosevelt Institute, a left-wing think tank, found a fervent audience under the leadership of President Biden, who he owed his victory largely to black women. He was welcomed by influential personalities, including corporate economists and chairman of the Federal Reserveand formed the premise of the 133-page report commissioned by the Congressional Caucus for Black Women and Girls.
This has not gone unchallenged: some scholars, including Edinburgh University’s Tommy J. Curry, argue that black men are more disadvantaged than black women. Doctor Curryprofessor specializing in African philosophy AND Black Men’s Studies on the university, said that while he understood the “political popularity” of Mrs. Jones’ theory, the evidence didn’t support it. He said black women “have seen higher levels of labor force participation, entrepreneurial ventures supported by government subsidies and better college graduation rates since 2000, while black men have been shown to have higher unemployment, lower earnings per dollar — at 51 cents by some resources – and overall downward mobility.
Ms Jones declined to reply to Dr Curry’s criticism but stressed that her policy recommendations were generally not a zero-sum game.
