New data shows Black women are being pushed out of the workforce amid economic uncertainty and the takeover of artificial intelligence.
300,000 Black women have been forced out of their jobs in the federal government and public sector, according to The Root.
“Employment rates have remained somewhat steady for other groups of workers, except us,” said The Root.
“For me, Black women’s unemployment going up — this is the backbone of our economy, of our labor force. We have cause to be concerned,” said Jasmine Tucker, the vice president for research at the National Women’s Law Center.
The loss of Black women from the workforce is “thinning a pipeline” that was “already too narrow,” said Fortune.
“Black women have “long held the strongest foothold in middle-class employment,” said MSNBC.
The growing reliance on artificial intelligence in the workplace may also be “making the problem worse,” said Forbes. Many jobs are being replaced by AI programs, and AI used by companies in the hiring process can “exacerbate existing biases” for Black women.
Having less opportunities in the workplace for Black women can increase the dependence on government handouts and benefits. Black women leading Fortune 500 companies in education, medicine, and tech routinely report feeling invisible, particularly as companies cut back DEI programs.
Investment company BlackRock rolled back DEI programs, leading to many Black female executives losing their jobs.
The cuts came 3 years after the company’s CEO Larry Fink said BlackRock “must embed DEI into everything we do.”
