Black Friday myths may be perpetrated by the media, according to the latest analysis by tech entrepreneur Sierra Nicole May.
In a video uploaded on TikTok and a post made on X-formerly known as Twitter-May, the founder of nonprofit Young In Tech, highlighted the issues in a report made by CNBC about the latest Black Friday sales and profits.
Deconstructing the article, the entrepreneur emphasized how the media can be misleading through the wording used in its headline which read that “shoppers spent a record $9.8 billion in online sales” at a rate that was “up 7.5%” from 2022.
In her video, May emphasized that, although online sales may have increased by 7.5%, all sales have only increased 2.5%.
Although more was made in revenue, the “record” $9.8 billion made is actually a loss as the inflation gap also increased to 3.2%. Per May, the value of the American dollar has been lost due to inflation, meaning that the worth of $9.8 billion in 2023 is not the same as its worth in 2022.
The entrepreneur also noted that there was a 47% increase in purchases that were bought in the moment, but paid for at a later time.
“I think the media just doesn’t want us to really grasp what we’re going through in terms of our economy,” said May in her post. “It’s very important that we grasp what’s going on.”
May’s analysis comes amidst news that the value of the dollar has recently dropped again. Per the Financial Times, the value of the dollar hit at its lowest level since mid-August, dropping 0.5%.
The worsening economy in the U.S. has contributed to high rates of layoffs across all companies. Per the latest report by Forbes, up until September, there were 605,000 layoffs across U.S. companies, marking a 198% increase in unemployed individuals.
Of the people that were laid off, Black Americans were amongst those that were most affected. Per the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the number of unemployed Black Americans grew to 267,000 in April of this year; out of the 300,000 people that were laid off, they accounted for nearly 90%.
Layoffs have been particularly heightened in the tech industry, disproportionately affecting Black tech talent.
Per McKinsey, the gaps between Black tech employees and white tech employees are expected to grow with the nonprofit predicting that they’ll widen in the next decade. “Across all industries, technology jobs—those in data science, engineering, cybersecurity, and software development—are expected to grow 14 percent by 2032,” wrote the researchers. “Black tech talent in those roles is expected to grow only 8 percent over the same period.”
