Unemployment Among Black Women Rose to 7.5% in August

The unemployment rate among Black women surged to 7.5% in August, according to government data released on September 5.

This figure is significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate and is tied in part to job cuts across federal agencies initiated by Donald Trump’s administration. Many of the agencies targeted are those where Black women make up a disproportionately large share of employees. The rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives has further compounded the crisis for this group.

In January, the unemployment rate for Black women stood at 5.4%, compared to an overall rate of 4%. By August it had risen by more than two percentage points, while the general rate increased by just 0.3.

Women are a minority in the federal workforce overall, but in the agencies singled out by the White House — such as USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Education — they form the majority. Black women accounted for 28% of staff in those agencies. Across the federal workforce as a whole, they represent 12% of employees — nearly double their share of the national labor force, The New York Times recently noted.

According to the Labor Department, 97,000 federal jobs have been cut since the start of the year. That figure does not yet include employees who opted for deferred retirement, who will only be reflected in unemployment statistics by the end of September.