In the first half of the year, Black unemployment continued to rise while White employment remained stable, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data released Thursday.
In the first half of 2026, the average Black unemployment rate was 7 percent — about 0.6 percentage points larger than it was during the same period in 2025. White unemployment did not budge in the first half of this year relative to last.
At the end of 2025, economists and civil rights organizations grew concerned about the widening gap between Black and White unemployment. In June, the ratio of Black and White unemployment remained close to 2-to-1. On average, in the first half of 2026, the gap was about 11 percent larger than it was during the same period in 2025.
The disparity illustrates the continuing difficulties that Black Americans — particularly college-educated Black women — are having finding jobs after cuts by the Trump administration to the federal workforce. These troubles were highlighted in a Post story on four Black women in the South with advanced degrees who have struggled to find jobs.
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