The headlines say the job market is strong — but Black women know a different story. Over the past three months, nearly 300,000 Black women have been pushed out of the workforce, with 518,000 who never returned to the force after the pandemic. Now, with federal layoffs, DEI rollbacks, and structural inequities at play, it’s a quiet crisis that speaks volumes: When the budget gets tight, Black women are the first to go.

Let’s break down what’s behind the numbers — and why so many of us are being left behind.

300,000 Black Women Forced Out

Employment rates have remained somewhat steady for other groups of workers, except us. Between February and April 2025, we lost an estimated 304,000 jobs, despite the overall U.S. economy adding a reported 175,000 jobs in the same period, per the National Black Chamber of Commerce. We’re the face of the most dramatic month-to-month increase in unemployment across gender and race, skyrocketing from 5.1% to 6.1% in March alone. Luckily the rate decreased slightly, as unemployment for Black women 20 and older fell to 5.8% for the month of June – still significantly higher than the national average, according to Axios. 

And we aren’t the only ones smashing the red button — economists and experts warn these numbers could signal deeper cracks in the job market. We may be down now, but the real question is: who’s next?

What’s Fueling the Disparity?

Cuts to Federal Employment: Inequities within the labor market are sure to come for the most vulnerable first – Black women. Not only do we make up the majority of federal employment roles, we’re overrepresented in agencies targeted for budget cuts including USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Education, where we account for 28% of the workforce, per ProPublica. 

DEI Rollbacks: The current administration’s rollbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion dismantled federal programs and scaled back corporate roles where mostly Black women are represented. Additional sectors including healthcare, caregiving, and administrative support are often under attack.   

Systemic Racism: Black women have long been concentrated in lower-paying, less secure jobs — not by chance, but by design. Limited advancement opportunities and bias continues to shape who gets hired, promoted, or protected when the cuts come. And when they do, we tend to spend longer amounts of time job seeking or flat out unemployed, per 19th News. 

The Broader Impact

Black women make up 12% of the federal workforce, per the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. How many more teachers, administrative workers, and nurses will they fire? Plus, Black women often serve as the economic anchors in their households and communities. Losing jobs at this grand scale sends shockwaves through family income, healthcare access, education, and housing stability. Needless to say, the situation is dire.

“Are we heading into a recession? Is some action the current administration is going to take going to keep moving us in that direction? Prices remain high, people can’t afford child care — there are a whole host of things people are really nervous about,” Jasmine Tucker, the vice president for research at the National Women’s Law Center stated, per 19th News. 

“For me, Black women’s unemployment going up — this is the backbone of our economy, of our labor force.  We have cause to be concerned,” she concluded.