Black unemployment under Trump reaches its highest rate since the pandemic. Here’s what it could mean
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"Black workers are often last hired, first fired," said Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs of The Century Foundation.
Gerren Keith Gaynor
The latest jobs report released by the Department of Labor shows that Black unemployment spiked to 7.2% in July, marking its highest rate since the COVID-19 pandemic nearly four years ago.
“Trump says he’s ‘done more for Black Americans than anyone.’ If pushing Black unemployment to its highest level since 2021 is his idea of progress, we’d hate to see what failure looks like to him,” said Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century.
Weathersby told theGrio, “Instead of delivering on his promises to the working class, Trump is handing out tax breaks to billionaires while Black unemployment climbs and good-paying jobs disappear.” He added, “While Trump celebrates phony job numbers and lines the pockets of his ultra-rich donors, Black workers are paying the price.”
The Black unemployment rate has not seen its current level since December 2021, when it was 7.1%. The unemployment rate for Black workers reached its lowest level in U.S. history during the Biden administration at 5%.
President Donald Trump appeared incensed over Friday’s overall jobs numbers, which included a downward turn in the number of added jobs last month, which was only 73,000. In a Truth Social post, Trump announced the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer as a result. The president, without any evidence, accused the Biden appointee of previously faking the jobs numbers to influence the 2024 election in favor of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Trump White House has been bullish about the president’s handling of the economy, touting his global tariffs and range of private sector investments. This week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated the recent GDP report showing a growth of 3%. The Trump spokesperson noted that it was “above market expectations” and said the president was “delivering on his promise to Make America Wealthy Again.”
However, several economists say the data paints a different picture, reflecting a slowdown in growth and rising inflation for core goods.
Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs of The Century Foundation and a former Department of Labor official under the Biden administration, told theGrio that the “chaotic nature” of Trump’s policies has “made the economy less stable.”
“You can see how a tariff policy that’s on again, off again creates uncertainty for businesses, slows hiring, and will inevitably have a disproportionately negative effect on Black workers,” said Hanks.
She also said major cuts to economic lifelines for many Black and other vulnerable families, like Medicaid and SNAP–as outlined in the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Trump’s more than $3 trillion budget law that includes major tax cuts for the wealthy—are also “threatening” to the economy.
The labor policy expert and researcher warned that the rise in Black unemployment could signal broader economic strains for the country.
“Black workers are often last hired, first fired, and so when you see Black unemployment rising, it’s both concerning for Black workers, but it also tends to suggest something deeper is going on in the economy,” she explained.
During the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the data showed a rise in Black unemployment. Hanks warned, “It’s typically associated with some sort of crisis that’s happening more broadly.”
To some degree, the increased Black unemployment rate isn’t a total surprise. The rates for Black men and, more acutely, Black women, saw increases in recent months. The federal workforce, which has seen the biggest decline, is disproportionately Black.
“This is where we know Black workers are over-represented, and this doesn’t even reflect the large share of workers who are on administrative leave in the federal government through September,” warned Hanks, who said the country can expect to see more individuals out of the job market in the fall.
Black federal workers have found themselves at the center of President Trump’s agenda, which has included downsizing the federal workforce, which his administration sees as “wasteful” spending, reducing and dismantling several agencies and departments like the Department of Education, and, probably most significantly, eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion roles, which he has called “illegal discrimination.”
Hanks says the Trump administration’s targeting of DEI and undermining civil rights protections creates an environment for more discrimination, especially for Black workers.
“They’re saying to companies and others that they are willing to put up with discrimination,” she told theGrio. She noted that one of the offices axed as part of Trump’s shrinking of the federal government and attacks on DEI was the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contracting Compliance Programs. That office was tasked with ensuring federal contractors were following civil rights laws.
“Even if there is not a policy to discriminate, they certainly have created the environment that makes Black workers, workers of color, more exposed in their jobs,” she explained.
Hanks added, “The Trump administration is harming the economy in all of these different ways that are putting a strain on business owners…on Black workers and making our economy overall just less stable [and] less dynamic.”
