By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
A new report from the Brookings Institution warns that the nation’s job market may be entering a period of instability that could worsen racial and economic disparities. While the overall unemployment rate held steady between June 2024 and June 2025, joblessness among Black workers rose by more than half a percent. The analysis by Glencora Haskins and Tracy Hadden Loh of Brookings Metro shows that the Washington region may be a preview of what is to come nationally. Unemployment in the area rose by almost 0.6 percentage points during the same period, but white unemployment increased faster than Black unemployment for the first time in years.
“While overall unemployment remained stable between June 2024 and 2025, unemployment for Black workers increased by over half a percent,” the authors wrote. “However, in the DMV region, the white unemployment rate has increased more than the Black unemployment rate.” The researchers noted that the D.C. area is one of the largest regional economies in the United States and among the most divided by income. Those divisions have persisted across decades of growth and downturns and now show signs of worsening under current labor conditions.
Across the country, Black workers continue to face joblessness at nearly twice the rate of white workers. Yet, Brookings found that national averages conceal serious weaknesses beneath the surface. In the Washington region, more than 20,000 workers have become unemployed since June 2024, and another 20,000 have left the labor force. That means over 46,000 people who had jobs a year earlier were not working by mid-2025. Haskins and Loh cautioned that the data does not yet include deferred resignations among federal employees who accepted buyouts but remained on payroll through the end of September. “These early trends may reverse as additional quarters of data become available,” they wrote.
The report also notes that the District of Columbia has lost more than 6,000 federal jobs since last year, and unemployment in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County has risen sharply. Those changes could extend to other regions where federal employment plays a key role in local economies. The authors described unemployment as “a bellwether for long-term socioeconomic conditions.” They cited research showing that long-term joblessness reduces lifetime earnings, harms health, and destabilizes communities.
Haskins and Loh wrote that economic leaders must not wait to act. “Leaders across sectors and geographic levels must combine efforts now to reverse labor market stagnation, diversify and grow the economy, and reduce disparities to prevent long-run damage to the region and the nation’s economic and social welfare,” they insisted.
