Black women make up a large, important share of the US workforce —but they still earn significantly less than white men. Systemic racism and discrimination have pushed a disproportionate share of Black women into nontraditional—or “vulnerable” or “precarious”—jobs that often come with low pay, few benefits, and unreliable hours.

To supplement our quantitative research on vulnerable work, we recently conducted focus groups and interviews with a dozen Black women to learn how their jobs affect their livelihoods. They characterized their main jobs as temporary, contract based, or part time and said their wages were low and health insurance or retirement benefits were lacking. This was a small group of women, but they had a diverse range of formal education, ranging from a high school diploma to a graduate degree, and a variety of jobs, including contract attorneys, app-based delivery, and catering support.

Many Black women we spoke with prefer the flexibility of nontraditional work but said these jobs often hurt their immediate and long-term economic and overall well-being. They’ve adopted strategies to help them cope with these realities, but policymakers can take steps to provide additional supports to ensure Black women have access to stable, high-quality jobs—no matter what kind of work they do.

The benefits and drawbacks of nontraditional work

More than half of the women we spoke with said they prefer nontraditional work for a few reasons:

• the flexibility that comes with a nontraditional job
• the time left for activities like housework, studying for licensing exams, and caring for family
• the ability to experience different companies while being a contractor

But the other women we spoke with were in vulnerable jobs out of necessity rather than preference. Three women with a college or advanced degree tried to find a job elsewhere but were unsuccessful. Another woman lost a job, and a couple said poor health meant a job with fewer hours was more sustainable.

The precarity of their unstable jobs hurts their overall economic and emotional well-being, and they said they experienced the following:

• Inabilty to save. Half of the women said their earnings just weren’t enough, and as a result, some women couldn’t save as much as they would like or at all.
• Trouble paying bills. Three women said they had a hard time paying bills. One woman doing contract law work shared, “If I'm not on a project and it's the first of the month and that's when rent’s due, I'm scrambling and unfortunately… I don't have any savings.”
• Accrual of additional expenses. The women working with delivery apps noted the wear and tear their vehicles developed and additional expenses of maintenance.
• Accumulation of debt. Two women said they had accumulated debt and their access to credit was dwindling.
• Uncertainty or inability to retire. A couple of participants said they didn’t envision themselves retiring in the future. As one said, “Savings are typically through an employer. So that makes it very precarious, and the only other option is to try to earn enough… that eventually one might be able to access Social Security, but of course who knows if that's going to even be around.”
• Mental health effects. One woman—a government contractor—said her job made her feel less For others, the work seemed to have the opposite effect. One woman working with delivery apps described experiencing “an emotional roller coaster every single day.” Another woman who does various temporary gigs shared that the uncertainty creates “stress and heaviness on the mind [and] on the body.” Yet another woman shared fears about becoming unhoused if she doesn’t have enough money coming in.
• Racism and discrimination on the job. One woman working part time for a major corporation noted that managers only share information about promotional opportunities with white staff and noted the disparity in the share of Black women and men managers. A temporary worker described having to prove herself in ways her counterparts didn’t have to “before [she was] actually given [a] task to work on.”

How Black women navigate unstable jobs

The women we spoke with have taken the following steps to increase their economic stability in unstable work.

• Having multiple sources of income. Several women balanced multiple gigs or part-time jobs.
• Saving money and keeping expenses low. Although some participants said they were unable to save as much as they would like, they still saved some money for emergencies and, in a few cases, for retirement, even without an employer contribution. Some women also described clipping coupons and spending cautiously.
• Staying organized. Several women said they managed stress by creating schedules, meal prepping, and outsourcing time-consuming chores like laundry.
• Leaning on family and friends. Two women received financial support from family members, and three others shared that their friends are an emotional support.
• Accessing government social insurance. None of the participants we spoke with had health insurance from an employer, but half had health insurance through the government, mostly Medicaid. Three participants had housing vouchers and said it allowed them to live in a decent place.

The Black women we spoke with aspired for more financial stability and economic success. But despite taking the steps above, they still face precarity.

There is a clear role for public policy to help close the gaps. Most of the women we spoke with felt government can play a role in boosting their livelihoods.