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Unemployment rate in February drops for Black men, but rises for Hispanic women

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A hiring sign is displayed in the window of a Chipotle on August 22, 2024 in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Anna Rose Layden | Getty Images

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.

Economics

Trump greenlights Nippon merger with US Steel

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A tugboat pushes a barge near the U.S. Steel Corp. Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 9, 2024.

Justin Merriman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel will form a “partnership,” after the Japanese steelmaker’s bid to acquire its U.S. rival had been blocked on national security grounds.

“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

U.S. Steel’s headquarters will remain in Pittsburgh and the bulk of the investment will take place over the next 14 months, the president said. U.S. Steel shares jumped more than 24%.

President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion in January, citing national security concerns. Biden said at the time that the acquisition would create a risk to supply chains that are critical for the U.S.

Trump, however, ordered a new review of the proposed acquisition in April, directing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to determine “whether further action in this matter may be appropriate.”

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

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Economics

A court resurrects the United States Institute of Peace

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The night the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) was taken over, March 17th, staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) walked round its headquarters smoking cigars and drinking beers while they dismantled the signage and disabled the computer systems. The takeover of the USIP building in Washington, DC, earlier that afternoon was one of the more notable moments of President Donald Trump’s revolution in the capital, because the think-tank is not actually part of the executive branch. The Institute’s board and president, George Moose, a veteran diplomat, were summarily fired. He and other senior staff were ultimately forced out of the building at the behest of three different police agencies. Then a DOGE staffer handed over the keys to the building to the federal government.

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Economics

How much worse could America’s measles outbreak get?

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AMERICA’S MEASLES outbreak is alarming for several reasons. What began as a handful of cases in Texas in January has now surpassed 800 across several states, with many more cases probably going unreported. It is the worst outbreak in 30 years and has already killed three people. Other smaller outbreaks bring the total number of cases recorded in 2025 so far to over 1,000. But above all, public-health experts worry that the situation now is a sign of worse to come. Falling vaccination rates and cuts to public-health services could make such outbreaks more frequent and impossible to curb, eventually making measles endemic in the country again.

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