Black women's unemployment spikes amid Trump's federal workforce cuts
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The unemployment rate for Black women rose sharply in August to 7.5%, per government data released Friday morning.
Why it matters: That's significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate, and is partly a result of President Trump's cuts to the federal workforce, which have disproportionately hit Black women.
- A backlash in the diversity, equity and inclusion space has also hit this group.
By the numbers: In January, Black women's unemployment rate was 5.4%, and the overall rate was 4%.
- Now, the rate for Black women has spiked more than two percentage points, while the overall rate has crept up only by 0.3 percentage points.
Between the lines: Women make up a slight minority of the federal workforce but represent the majority of employees among the agencies targeted by the White House, including USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education, where Black women made up 28% of workers.
- Overall, Black women make up 12% of the federal workforce — near double their share in the overall labor force, the New York Times recently noted.
Zoom out: The federal government has lost 97,000 jobs so far this year, per the Labor Department's latest release. That doesn't yet account for those government employees who took the "fork in the road," or deferred resignation.
- Those workers won't count as unemployed until the end of this month.
For the record: "President Trump is implementing the same America First economic agenda that delivered historic job and wage growth —including record-low Black unemployment rates —in his first term," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
- The White House also touted that unemployment for Black women reached 4.6 percent in August 2019—a record low at that time.
Go deeper: Why unemployment for Black women is rising
