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WorkSource Montgomery: Black residents face higher unemployment, lower homeownership in county data
Summary
WorkSource Montgomery told the council that Black residents make up about 20% of the county population, have a 46% homeownership rate (countywide 66%), appear to have higher unemployment and are overrepresented in lower‑paying frontline occupations; presenters urged expanded summer and youth employment and entrepreneurship supports.
Anthony Featherstone, president and CEO of WorkSource Montgomery, presented a special briefing on the county’s Black labor market, describing the findings as a conversation starter and offering to return for deeper dives.
Featherstone said Black residents represent about 20 percent of Montgomery County’s population and that homeownership for Black households stands at approximately 46 percent compared with a countywide rate of 66 percent. He also said county data indicate Black residents experience higher unemployment relative to the county average; while countywide unemployment is roughly 3.6 percent, historical trends and the 2024 planning report suggest Black unemployment has been several points higher than the county rate and that more than 12,000 Black residents received unemployment assistance in April of the year cited.
WorkSource highlighted the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) population: of roughly 389,000 county households, about 25 percent fall into the ALICE group and 8 percent are in poverty. Featherstone noted that the 2026 ALICE figures are based on 2024 data and could change once 2025 federal reductions are fully reflected.
On occupations, the presentation showed strong Black representation in protective service and health care support roles (security, CNAs, medical assistants), but lower representation in higher‑paying life‑science occupations; for example, Black residents represent about 16 percent of life‑science professional roles in the county. Featherstone and council members discussed expanding entrepreneurship supports, intensifying summer youth employment and scaling programs that connect young people to full‑time career pathways.
Council members pressed for more granular, race‑disaggregated metrics and suggested the county should track outcomes — placement rates, wages and retention — for participants in county workforce programs; WorkSource agreed to provide more detailed, demographically broken placement data in future quarterly reports.
