The unemployment rate among Black men saw a significant improvement in February – even as the rate ticked higher for U.S. workers in general.
The overall unemployment rate edged higher last month to 4.1% from 4% in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls growth also came out underwhelming, according to the data.
To be sure, the unemployment data for February comes amid a push from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the federal workforce. The full impact of those cuts have yet to unfold, and further uncertainties around the direction of the U.S. economy and tariff decisions could affect hiring, according to Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” she said. “We’re not seeing the layoffs in the data yet, for the most part.”
An improvement in unemployment rates for Black men in February
For Black men aged 20 and older, the unemployment rate notably declined to 5.5% in February from 6.9% in January. That latest number shows a drop back down near levels seen in December, which had a 5.6% unemployment rate for Black men in this cohort.
The unemployment rate for Black women came out at 5.4% in February, holding steady from January and December. Those results come after the rate spiked to 5.9% in November of last year. By comparison, the jobless rate among Black workers overall edged lower to 6% in February, down from 6.2% in January.
“You see a fair amount of volatility month-to-month. It’s a little hard to ignore the huge drop in the unemployment rate for Black men … that’s a positive indication,” Gould said.
Higher unemployment rates for Hispanic and white women
The unemployment rate for Hispanic women climbed to 5.1% in February, up from 4.5% in the prior month. Hispanic men saw a similar jump in the unemployment rate, which rose to 4.6% last month from 4.0%.
For white women, the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.4% in February from 3.3%, and for white men it rose to 3.5% last month from 3.1%. White workers overall saw the jobless rate climb to 3.8% in February from 3.5% in January.
For Asian workers, the unemployment rate slid to 3.2% in February, down from 3.7% in the prior month.
Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, said that February’s payrolls report comes with a “load of footnotes.”
“For instance, the reporting survey was conducted following a period of significant job displacement in California related to the wildfires and other adverse weather conditions around the U.S., in the midst of a changing immigration picture, more labor strikes, and the beginning of the impact of DOGE on federal government employment,” he said.
– CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.
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