Summit Academy President & CEO Leroy West was recently quoted in the Star Tribune article "Black unemployment rate falls to record low in Minnesota, but do numbers tell the whole story?"
"When you have a tight labor market, and the hiring demand is still high across occupations, those who can work are working," said Leroy West, president of Summit Academy, a career and technical education institute based in north Minneapolis. "That's a favorable condition for who's been left on the sidelines."
But despite the low unemployment, many people question if those jobs are actually paying a living wage. The aftereffects of the pandemic, inflation, and stagnant wages all contribute to the challenges faced by Black workers.