December jobs report: 270K+ less federal workers since January, Black unemployment rises
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reviews monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) jobs report. Due to the government shutdown, October data was not fielded so today’s comparisons are to September 2025 since October is not available.
Today’s report revealed that there are 271,000 fewer federal government employees in November 2025 than in January 2025, when Donald Trump took office.
Overall, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.4% to 4.6% from September to November. Black men aged 20 and over experienced a dramatic change in unemployment: increasing from 6.6% in September to 7.5% in November 2025. The unemployment rate for Black women aged 20 and over is currently at 7.1%, compared to 7.5% in September, but remains elevated compared to all other groups by race and ethnicity.
In addition, unemployed Black workers aged 16 and over are also experiencing longer spells of unemployment compared to other groups. Black women are typically experiencing unemployment spells of 14.5 weeks and Black men are typically experiencing spells of 12.1 weeks, compared to just 8.6 weeks for white women and 9.6 weeks for white men.
NWLC tracks additional data related to unemployment and industry changes, including by gender and race. Please contact [email protected] if you’d like to speak to researchers and other experts who can speak to the impact that these losses have on women and their families.
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