2025 Jobs Day Analysis

The Joint Center analyzes unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and shows how these numbers affect Black workers. Our 2025 Jobs Day analysis is below.

In 2025, Black workers experienced high unemployment rates. Compared to the unemployment rate of all workers and amongst different racial demographic groups, Black workers experienced stark and consecutive increases in unemployment. Unemployment data from 2025 highlights the inequities Black workers face when entering and re-entering the workforce.

These employment disparities were exacerbated by major policy shifts in 2025 that reshaped the labor market and disproportionately harmed Black workers. The federal hiring freeze and government workforce reductions; rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and affirmative action policies; the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new certification standards for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) and Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (ACDBE); and tariffs are some of the policy changes that have severely impacted Black workers, as highlighted in the Joint Center’s 2026 State of the Dream: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession report.

Understanding how these policy changes translate into workforce outcomes requires comprehensive unemployment data. Without data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), we cannot adequately examine workforce trends among Black workers. Due to the 2025 government shutdown, BLS paused the release of unemployment data, and October unemployment data remains unknown. This pause underscored the value and importance of accessible federal data for amplifying current labor market trends.

Disparities in economic outcomes and opportunities for Black workers increase the demand to center Black workers and their experiences in all policy discussions, decisions, and workforce development initiatives. In 2026, Black workers must be prioritized to combat high unemployment rates and create more opportunities to economically advance and thrive in the evolving workforce.

See the highlights from our analysis below.

• In 2025, the average unemployment rate for Black workers was 6.9 percent, compared to six percent in 2024.

• In 2025, the average unemployment rate for all workers was 4.3 percent, compared to four percent in 2024.
• In 2025, the unemployment rate for Black workers was 6.2 percent in January and 7.5 percent in December.
• In 2025, the unemployment rate for all workers was four percent in January and 4.4 percent in December.
• In 2025, the highest monthly unemployment rate for all workers was 4.5 percent in November. The monthly unemployment rate for Black workers was also the highest in November at 8.2 percent.
• The average unemployment rate for Black workers in 2025 was 6.9 percent, which was higher than the average unemployment rate of 3.7 percent for white workers in 2025.
• The 8.2 percent unemployment rate for Black workers in November was the highest monthly unemployment rate of any racial group, and more than twice the highest unemployment rate of white workers of 3.9 percent in the same month.
• The monthly Black unemployment rate reached over eight percent in November 2025, the highest since August 2021. (2024: 6.5 percent in March, 2023: 6 percent in June, 2022: 7 percent in Jan, 2021:10.3 percent in April, 2020:16.9 percent in April).
• The highest unemployment rate for Black women was eight percent (November), and for Black men it was 8.4 percent (November) in 2025.
• In 2025, the average unemployment rate for Black women was 6.7 percent compared to 5.6 percent in 2024, and for Black men it was 7.1 percent, compared to 6.3 percent in 2024.
• For Black women, the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in January and 7.8 percent in December.
• For Black men, the unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in January and 7.2 percent in December.
• The highest unemployment rate for young Black workers ages 16 – 24 was 20.8 percent in November, and for all young workers it was 11.4 percent in June.
• The average unemployment rate for young Black workers increased from 13.2 percent in 2024 to 15 percent in 2025.

*The 2025 Black unemployment averages only include data from 11 months due to the government shutdown, while the 2024 average includes data from all 12 months.*