On September 9, 2025, Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts sent a pointed letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, demanding urgent action and transparency regarding the rising unemployment rate among Black women in the United States. The move comes on the heels of a series of troubling jobs reports and amid mounting concern from both lawmakers and economic experts about what these figures signal for the broader U.S. economy.
According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between February and July 2025, approximately 319,000 Black women lost their jobs. This shift caused the unemployment rate among Black women to rise by 1.3 percentage points, landing at 6.7% in August—well above the national average of 4.3%. Black men also saw their unemployment rate jump by 1.5% during the same period. Pressley described these numbers as a “glaring red flag that forbodes danger for the entire country,” as reported by NBC News.
Pressley’s letter to Powell was more than just a call for data; it was a demand for accountability and action. She urged the Federal Reserve to begin systematically collecting and reporting data on changes in Black women’s unemployment, so that policymakers could craft targeted solutions to stem job losses. “The U.S. Federal Reserve has a statutory mandate to promote maximum employment and that must be true for all people, regardless of race and gender,” Pressley wrote in her letter, as quoted by multiple outlets including Nexstar Media and NBC News.
The Congresswoman’s sense of urgency is rooted in the disproportionate impact that recent federal workforce layoffs have had on Black women. Under the Trump Administration, mass layoffs have hit the federal workforce hard, and Black women—who represent about 12% of federal employees but only 7% of the overall labor market—have borne the brunt. Pressley argued that these layoffs, combined with a rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in both the public and private sectors, have compounded longstanding barriers such as hiring discrimination and wage disparities.
“It’s a loss of the wealth of knowledge, of innovation, of skills that Black women contribute every day,” Pressley told NBC News. She warned that the harm inflicted by these targeted policies is precise and deliberate: “None of this is by accident. This is discriminate harm. It is precise and it is targeted. And eventually this harm will come for everyone. But the patterns of it, the precision of it, it’s a predictable playbook. It is not happenstance.”
Economic experts are echoing Pressley’s concerns. Darrick Hamilton, an economics professor at The New School, told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, “The adage ‘Black people are the first fired, last hired’ is indicative of what might come for the rest of us.” This sentiment is backed up by a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey, which found that Americans’ perceived probability of obtaining a new job has fallen to a record low of 44.9%. This dip in confidence has fostered what some are calling “job-hugging”—a trend where workers, especially younger ones, cling to their current jobs out of fear they won’t find new employment if they leave.
Pressley’s letter also addressed what she described as a “moment of antiblackness on steroids,” referencing the firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook by President Donald Trump over allegations of mortgage fraud. Pressley called this move part of a broader pattern of targeted discrimination, and she pressed Powell to defend the Federal Reserve’s independence in the face of what she views as unlawful interference. “Furthermore, the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] have compounded the negative effects on Black women,” Pressley wrote, emphasizing the need for the Fed to resist political pressure and uphold its mandate for all Americans.
The impact of these employment trends is especially pronounced in the nation’s capital. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Fiscal Policy Institute, the Black-white unemployment ratio in D.C. is the highest in the country at 3.9-to-1. Mass firings ordered by President Trump in early 2025 caused the Black unemployment rate in D.C. to soar to 9.9%, compared to just 2.6% for white residents. Glen Lee, the district’s Chief Financial Officer, has warned that these job losses could push D.C. into a mild recession in 2026 and reduce city revenues by $1 billion over the next three years.
Pressley’s advocacy is not new. She has long championed race-conscious policies aimed at closing the racial wealth gap and supporting marginalized communities. Her legislative efforts include leading a historic resolution calling for a federal job guarantee, co-sponsoring the American Opportunity Accounts Act (also known as Baby Bonds) with Senator Cory Booker to create federally funded savings accounts for every American child, and introducing the Equity in Government Act to codify racial equity across federal agencies. Pressley has also been a leading voice in the push for student debt cancellation, a cause that recently saw significant progress with the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to cancel student debt for over 40 million Americans.
In her letter to Powell, Pressley set a deadline of September 30, 2025, for the Federal Reserve to provide data on the impact of Black women’s job losses, outline concrete steps to uphold maximum employment for Black women, and affirm the Fed’s independence in the wake of recent political turmoil. She also called on the Fed to develop a detailed plan for addressing the increasingly high unemployment rates among Black women—a demographic she described as the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs and a backbone of their families’ financial stability.
Pressley’s demands reflect a broader reckoning with the intersection of race, gender, and economic opportunity in America. As she noted, Black women’s employment is a “key metric of the health of the U.S. economy.” The Congresswoman’s letter and the data she cites paint a sobering picture: when Black women are excluded from economic progress, the entire nation stands to lose. The coming weeks will reveal whether the Federal Reserve responds with the urgency and transparency Pressley and many others are demanding.
