By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
As of the most recent Labor Department report, Black unemployment stands at 7.2%, marking its highest level since late 2021.
While this figure may appear modest in isolation, it represents a significant jump from 6.8% the month prior and 6.3% a year ago. Even more striking is the contrast to December 2023, when Black unemployment hit an all-time low of 5%, the lowest in U.S. history.
This dramatic reversal—driven by a 13% increase in unemployment between May and June 2025 alone—has raised concerns among economists, who often view rising Black unemployment as an early indicator of broader economic trouble. Historically, Black workers are among the first to be affected during downturns and the last to recover.
The disparities between racial groups remain stark. While Black workers face a 7.2% unemployment rate, white workers have a jobless rate of just 3.7%. Hispanic workers have an unemployment rate of 5.0%, while Asian workers stand at 3.9%.
Geographic trends further highlight the unevenness of the recovery. In Michigan, Black unemployment is nearing 10%, while South Carolina experienced a 3% increase in Black unemployment over the past year, rising to 6.9%.
In North Carolina, the overall unemployment rate sits at 3.7%, mirroring the national average for white workers, but it does not reflect racial disparities within the state.
Black women, in particular, have been disproportionately affected by the recent rise in joblessness. Their unemployment rate rose from 5.5% to 6.3% over the past year, despite Black women earning more college degrees than any other race-gender group in the United States.
Weak job growth across the broader economy compounds the issue. In July, the economy added just 73,000 jobs, falling short of economists’ already modest expectations. June saw only 14,000 new jobs. The May and June figures were revised down by a combined 258,000 positions. And May’s gains were nearly wiped out, reduced to a mere 19,000 jobs.
Many of the federal agencies experiencing the steepest job cuts have disproportionately high Black representation. For example, 36% of the workforce at the Department of Education, 21% at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and 20.5% at the Department of Health and Human Services are Black.
In just the past 90 days, nearly 300,000 Black women have left the labor force overall.
Adding to these pressures is a broader shift in corporate hiring strategies. A recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics found that 1 in 4 companies plan to delay hiring or investments over the next six months. Meanwhile, since 2023, more than 2,600 jobs with "diversity" or "DEI" in the title or description have been
