Rising unemployment rate for Black women sparks calls for change

"In a packed room at a library in downtown Boston, Rep. Ayanna Pressley posed a blunt question: Why are Black women, who have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the country, now seeing their unemployment rise faster than most other groups? The replies Monday from policymakers, academics, business owners, and community organizers laid out how economic headwinds facing Black women may indicate a troubling shift for the economy at large."

"The unemployment rate for Black women increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September this year, the most recent month for available data because of the federal government shutdown. That compares with a 3.2% to 3.4% increase for white women over the same period. And it extended a yearlong trend of the Black women's unemployment rate increasing at a time of broad economic uncertainty."

""Everyone is missing out when we're pushed out of the workforce," said Pressley, a progressive Democrat from Massachusetts. "That is something that I worry about now, that you have all these women with specific expertise and specializations that we're being deprived of." And when Black women do have work, she said they tend to be "woefully underemployed." Black women had the highest labor force participation rate of any female demographic in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,"

Black women in the U.S. face rising unemployment and underemployment even while maintaining the highest labor-force participation among women. Recent data show Black women's unemployment rose from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September, outpacing increases for white women. The rise continued a yearlong trend during economic uncertainty and disproportionately affects workers concentrated in retail, health and social services, and government administration. Policymakers, business owners, and community organizers warn that losing Black women from the workforce deprives the economy of specialized expertise and signals uneven pressures that could foreshadow broader economic weakness.

Read at Fast Company