WASHINGTON, D.C. — The unemployment rate for Black women continues its climb, according to the most recent National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) jobs analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Black women’s unemployment increased from 6.4% in January 2026 to 7.1% in February. This is 2.6 percentage points over their unemployment rate two years ago and up 1.7 percentage points since January 2025, when Trump took office. 

Overall, the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, and men aged 16+ bore the brunt of this, losing 99,000 jobs.

In addition:

• The unemployment rate for Latinas increased from 4.8% in January to 5.0% in February;
• The unemployment rate for Latinos increased from 3.9% in January to 4.5% in February;
• There was a loss of 10,000 federal government jobs in February. This brings the total of federal government jobs lost since January 2025 to 327,000.

“Black women are in economic crisis, as their unemployment spiked again in February,” said Jasmine Tucker, vice president for research at NWLC. “Job losses, including the heavy hit to the federal workforce, coupled with Trump’s harmful policies like cuts to basic needs programs and unpopular tariffs are stretching people’s personal finances to the limit.”

Please contact [email protected] if you’d like to speak to an expert on the impact that these losses have on women and their families, or receive additional topline data related to unemployment and industry changes, including by gender and race. 

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