Mitchell Hartman

She went on food stamps.

And the job search?

Mundell's bout of unemployment makes her part of a trend, says Valerie Wilson at the Economic Policy Institute.

Historically, black unemployment runs about double the rate of white unemployment.

But in the last year, as the economy has slowed, white unemployment has barely budged, while black unemployment has soared by an additional 1.4 percentage points.

One development in particular has driven that increase, says Benga Agilori at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, sharp cuts to federal employment.

Back in 2024, black workers made up 18.5% of federal workers versus about 13% of the U.S.

workforce as a whole.

So Agilori says black workers have lost jobs disproportionately in the Doge cuts.

And black women were overrepresented in some of the agencies that suffered the deepest cuts, like the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services.

Another big drag on Black women's employment has come from the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, says EPI's Valerie Wilson.

Another group of workers worries economist William Rogers at the St.

Louis Fed.

When the job market peaked in mid-2023 and demand for workers was highest, this group had an unemployment rate below 15%.

Now it's nearly 22%.

The rise in black unemployment will cause long-term economic damage, says Tulane University economist Gary Hoover.

Hoover says more black families will have to dip into emergency savings.

They'll miss out on pension and IRA contributions, leading to lower household wealth accumulation.

After her layoff from the federal government, being without a paycheck certainly dealt Maryland resident Sharnice Mundell a financial blow.

She was delayed getting on unemployment, and after eight months of mostly fruitless job searching, she finally landed a position doing insurance authorizations at a big regional hospital.