Some signs of hope for U.S. labor recoveries were seen in January’s jobs report, especially for Black workers who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

U.S. payrolls increased 467,000 jobs in the first month of the new yearAccording to Friday’s Labor Department report, economists had not expected Covid-omicron outbreaks would have an effect on employment. The January unemployment rate was 4%, compared to 3.9% for December.

Black workers saw their unemployment rate drop to 6.9% from 7.1% last month. What’s more, the Black labor force participation rate rose to 62% in January — the same as white workers.

Bradley Hardy from Georgetown University said, “We have seen this encouraging closing of Black-white labor participation gaps, and it seems to have fully convergenced.” This is a direct result of Black labor participation rates rising slowly over the almost two-year period that was engulfed by this pandemic.

Hardy explained that the rate of labor force participation “can sometimestimes serve as a proxy for optimism, and willingness to join in on the labor market.” “The fact that that’s actually a gap that is — for now, at least — closed is quite important.”

Black women felt the most affected by this improvement in unemployment, with their unemployment rate falling to 5.8% from 6.2% last month.

Black female unemployment rates dropped in January after Black women became the only race/gender group to experience a decline in their numbers. unemployment rate worsened in December.

Elise Gould senior economist at The Economic Policy Institute, says that the monthly economic readings for Black women or other minorities may be more volatile than those of whites due to the smaller populations.

Gould stated that “the longer-term story” is that Black workers are still experiencing a twice the unemployment rate as white workers, and their unemployment rate has been lower than Black workers ever have. In January, the white unemployment rate stood at 3.4%.

Hardy recommended that data be viewed over a period of two to three months.

“It is prudent optimism that…the trend is still heading in the right directions. Hardy said that it was good news. “But, at the same moment, we must be vigilant in how we interpret this trend.”