Black unemployment skyrockets ahead of tariff pressures

While the general unemployment rate for the nation has remained fairly steady, the African American unemployment rate surged in 2025 as tariffs continue to provoke mass layoffs.

An African American industrial worker is checking the setup value of metal sheet roll forming machine inside roof factory for safety industry construction; Stock Photo at Vecteezy.

According to new data as of July 2025, the black unemployment rate hit 7.2% last month, a 1.2% increase from six months ago, when the percentage stood at roughly 6%, when under the Biden presidency the unemployment rate for blacks was consistently on the decline.

Meanwhile, white employees saw a 3.7% unemployment rate in July, a mere 0.2% increase from the 3.5% reported at the start of the year.

It is important to note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' coverage of black-specific employment data is very limited, but over time the bureau is expected to revise numbers as new data is released. Yet, some budget cuts proposed by President Trump's administration have specifically targeted the BLS, making this improvement stage much more tedious.

Still, it is very worrying that the unemployment rate for African Americans is contributing greatly to the overall unemployment rate, which overrepresents blacks and immigrant groups while failing to highlight the relative economic stability most white Americans face despite tariffs.

While whites and Asian Americans contribute the greatest to technology and innovation sectors of the economy, Latinos and blacks have continued to make a significant share in the food, resource extraction, construction, and retail industries. In total, 1.9 million black Americans work in retail alone, with 40% of combined blacks and Latinos in the retail industry at or near the poverty line.

President Trump's tariffs have targeted the same industries worked by these two immigrant groups, with steep flat tariffs having a disproportionate impact on the cost of food and supplies versus technology, which is far more domestically acquired over domestic food. This has caused companies to start mass layoffs preemptively as tariffs began to roll in, especially in retail; in Q1 of 2025, U.S. retailers announced 57,804 job cuts. This number could be significantly higher now in Q3 because of additional tariffs having been implemented.