Thread by @nytimes

The U.S. economy has greatly improved from the worst months of job loss last spring, but millions of people are still out of work.

The recovery has left some groups further behind than others. Here's a look at what the data shows. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

Significantly fewer Black and Hispanic women are working in the U.S. now than any other demographic relative to their employment levels before the pandemic.

And women are lagging behind men across race and ethnicity, according to government data. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

Hispanic women fell into the deepest hole at the worst of the job losses, going from 12.4 million workers in February 2020, the last month of job gains before the pandemic, to 9.4 million in April — a 24% drop. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

No group has returned to prepandemic employment levels, but significant differences remain.

For example, there are nearly 10% fewer Black women employed compared with a year ago, but only 5% fewer employed white men. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

One reason for the disparity is that women of color tend to work in the industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic jobs crisis. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

Younger people were much more likely to lose work early in the pandemic and are still among the furthest from their prepandemic employment levels.

But they have regained jobs more rapidly than older people, who may be more wary of returning to work. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF

If the economic recovery continues to be lopsided, people who were already at a disadvantage when the crisis began are in danger of being left even further behind. nyti.ms/3qxnYTF