High COVID-19 Exposure Industries

Some employment sectors are more vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure than others because of the nature of tasks performed in those sectors. The chart below shows San Joaquin County’s industry composition divided into low-COVID-19 exposure industries (dark blue) and high-COVID-19 exposure industries (lighter blue). The high-COVID 19 exposure industries are further divided into employment categories. According to the pie chart below, 41 percent of the workers in San Joaquin County work in high-COVID-19 exposure industries. The largest employment categories that have high COVID-19 exposure are Retail, Healthcare and Community Services, and Transportation and Material Moving.

Racial/Ethnic Composition of High COVID-19 Exposure Industries

Asian and African-American workers are over-represented in high COVID19 exposure industries while Whites are under-represented. The chart below compares the racial/ethnic composition of high-COVID-19 exposure industries with that of the entire labor force. Asians and African-Americans comprise 18.3 percent and 6.3 percent of the workers who work in high exposure industries while comprising 14 percent and 5.8 percent of the total labor force. In contrast, Whites comprise 31.8 percent of workers in high exposure industries but comprise 35.7 percent of the labor force. The percentage of workers in high exposure industries that are Hispanic is similar to that of the entire labor force.

Percentage of Racial/Ethnic Group in High COVID-19 Exposure Industries

The chart below shows the percentage of workers within a racial/ethnic group that work in high COVID-19 exposure industries. Compared to the percent of the total workforce that work in high exposure industries (41.3 percent), the racial/ethnic groups that have a higher percentage of their workers in high exposure industries are Asian (54.1 percent), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (48.6) and African-American (45.3 percent). The Whites racial/ethnic group has a much lower percentage (36.9 percent).