106,000 Black Women Lost Their Jobs in April — And No One’s Talking About It

When Black Women Lose Jobs, America Should Pay Attention

The U.S. labor market “held steady” in April — unless you’re a Black woman.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 106,000 Black women lost their jobs last month. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a crisis. Yet the headlines are silent. The pundits are quiet. And the outrage? Nowhere to be found.

While the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.9%, the jobless rate for Black women surged to 6.1%, marking the largest increase of any racial or gender group. In contrast, unemployment for white women fell to 3.1%, and for Latinas, it held steady at 4.4%.

This isn’t just a blip. It’s a warning — and one that speaks volumes about whose economic pain gets prioritized in America.

This Is Not About Dropping Out — It’s About Being Pushed Out

The dominant narrative suggests that people “leave the workforce” by choice — but for many Black women, there is no choice. We’re not “opting out.” We’re being systematically pushed out.

Black women are overrepresented in low-wage, high-risk, and high-turnover sectors like retail, hospitality, caregiving, and administrative support. These are the jobs most vulnerable to automation, budget cuts, and “restructuring.” And when these positions vanish, we’re the first to be blamed for being “unadaptable.”

This April’s job losses didn’t happen in a vacuum. They are the result of structural dynamics that have long placed Black women at the intersection of economic vulnerability and institutional neglect.

An HR Insider’s Perspective: What Happens Behind Closed Doors

As a Black woman who has worked in human resources across multiple organizations, I’ve had a front-row seat to the disparities that rarely make it into diversity reports.

I’ve seen Black women scrutinized harder during hiring, offered less during salary negotiations, and passed over during promotions. I’ve watched equally qualified candidates get overlooked in favor of less experienced peers — often because of coded language like “cultural fit” or “leadership style.”

When we speak up for ourselves, it’s labeled “aggressive.” When others do it, it’s called “executive presence.”

In too many workplaces, Black women are over-mentored, under-sponsored, and never truly empowered to fail forward. We are expected to be twice as good, twice as quiet, and twice as grateful — just to be in the room.

DEI Is Dying — And Black Women Are Paying the Price

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, corporations flooded social media with messages of solidarity. They launched DEI task forces. They made promises. They published commitments.

But five years later, many of those promises have evaporated. DEI budgets have been slashed. Chief Diversity Officers have quietly been let go. And the commitment to equity has regressed into corporate lip service.

Meanwhile, Black women continue to bear the brunt of broken systems — not because we’re not qualified, but because the systems weren’t built for us to thrive in the first place.

What Needs to Change — Immediately

The economic stability of Black women is not a side issue. It’s a national economic concern. When Black women suffer economically, our families, communities, and markets suffer. The road to a just and resilient economy runs directly through the labor outcomes of Black women.

Here’s what needs to happen now:

1. Audit Hiring, Promotion, and Layoff Data by Race and Gender

Companies must stop hiding behind aggregate data. Break it down. If Black women are being laid off at higher rates or passed over for growth opportunities, acknowledge it — and fix it.

2. Treat DEI as a Business Imperative

Diversity isn’t a side project. It’s central to innovation, retention, and market competitiveness. DEI must be tied to executive performance goals, financial incentives, and transparent accountability.

3. Sponsor, Don’t Just Mentor

Black women don’t need more coffee chats — we need sponsorship. That means putting our names in rooms we’re not in, advocating for our advancement, and funding our leadership. Representation without power is a trap.

4. Invest in Retention, Not Just Recruitment

Recruiting Black women means nothing if they’re set up to fail. That includes rethinking toxic workplace cultures, rebalancing workloads, and ensuring psychological safety in predominantly white environments.

This Isn’t Just About Jobs — It’s About Justice

106,000 jobs lost. One group overwhelmingly affected. And still — the silence is deafening.

We’re tired of being the first to carry the weight and the last to get credit. Tired of being overworked, underpaid, and under-recognized. Tired of hearing that the labor market is “holding steady” when we’re being left behind.

Black women are workers, leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. We are not a statistical footnote. We are the backbone of too many industries to be treated as expendable.

Conclusion: The Alarm Has Sounded — Who’s Listening?

Black women are raising the alarm. Loudly. Urgently. Authentically.

The question isn’t whether there’s a problem — the numbers speak for themselves.

The question is: Will corporate America finally act?
Or will Black women once again be expected to survive in silence while carrying everyone else?