AfroTech report blames Trump cuts to DEI programs for major job losses for black women

The unemployment rate for black women increased by a full percentage point in April, which is the sharpest increase among any racial demographic, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The factors behind the trend remain unclear, but outlet AfroTech has blamed the drop in unemployment on President Donald Trump' changes in DEI policies as well federal job cuts.  

The unemployment rate for black women aged 20 and over rose to 6.1 percent in April - an increase from 5.1 percent in March - which is the highest since 2022, according to the data. In February 2024, the unemployment rate was at 4.4 percent, and it has been steadily increasing since, per the BLS report.

AfroTech claimed the decline in black women's "employment is partially attributed to the decline in the workforce as a result of initiatives being pushed by the Trump Administration" striking down DEI, and that "many corporations have followed suit."

In the past year, the black female federal workforce declined nearly 33 percent, compared to a 3.7 percent decrease for the overall federal workforce, according to the data. Black women make up roughly 7.8 percent of the total US population, but made up about 13 percent of the federal workforce in 2024.

“The unusual nature of this increase in black women’s unemployment is a testament to and a direct result of the anti-DEI and anti-black focus of the new administration’s policies,” economist William Michael Cunningham claimed, according to AfroTech. ”This is demonstrably damaging to the black community, something we have not seen before."

The overall share of employed black women dropped from 59.3 percent in February to 57.7 percent in April. While the overall workforce participation rate rose in April, the black female workforce had dropped for two consecutive months, per the BLS report.

Andrew Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, echoed a similar sentiment, explaining to Bloomberg, "The layoffs are the federal level where black people are more represented, the impacts of the tariffs, particularly on small businesses that hire black women, and just the overall use of DEI as a slur, which may be contributing to a lack of hiring of black women, all of these factors are probably at play."

Immediately upon taking office in January, President Trump signed a series of executive orders that terminated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal workforce. DOGE has also recommended thousands of federal jobs to be cut in response to its role in eliminating government waste.