Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
Pressley Has Sounded the Alarm on Pushout of Black Women from Workforce Under Trump, Demanded Action from Federal Reserve
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, along with Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls, Congresswomen Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), led 19 of their colleagues demanding the Department of Labor (DOL) take immediate action to address the rising unemployment crisis among Black women that has taken shape since the start of the second Trump Administration.
In Congress, Rep. Pressley has repeatedly sounded the alarm on the rising number of Black women forced out of the workforce in the United States and called on the Federal Reserve to take action. This week, Rep. Pressley issued a statement after the Trump Administration finally released the September jobs report.
“As Members of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls (CCBWG), we write to express our deep concern over the alarming rise in unemployment among Black women since the start of the Trump Administration and the subsequent weakening of the federal systems built to protect them that has followed in its wake,” the lawmakers wrote.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Black women have experienced the most significant percentage-point increase in unemployment of any demographic group for which monthly data is reported since January 2025. In April alone, 106,000 Black women lost jobs, contributing to their unemployment rising from 5.1 to 6.1 percent, even as the national rate remained stable over the same time frame.
“These numbers represent more than statistics — they reflect a crisis of economic displacement for thousands of mothers, caregivers, and heads of households,” the lawmakers continued. “Yet even as these losses mount, the federal government’s capacity to fully understand and address them is shrinking. The BLS, a cornerstone for reliable data on employment trends, has faced sustained budget and political attacks that risk undermining its ability to provide accurate, disaggregated information on race and gender. Without dependable data, policymakers cannot see or respond to the full scale of the challenges facing Black women workers.”
In their letter to Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Loretta Greene, Acting Director of the Women’s Bureau at the DOL, the lawmakers demanded the DOL review these troubling trends, consider a comprehensive assessment of their impact on Black women in the workforce, and determine what remedial actions may be necessary, specifically:
- Reaffirm the importance of accurate, disaggregated labor data on Black women and other underrepresented groups;
- Ensure that the data collection and analysis functions previously housed within the Women’s Bureau continue robustly within DOL; and
- Identify policy actions to mitigate the disproportionate job losses among Black women workers.
The letter was signed by 23 Members of Congress: Ayanna Pressley, Yvette Clarke, Robin Kelly, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Jennifer McClellan, Rashida Tlaib, LaMonica McIver, Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez, Ilhan Omar, Maxwell Frost, Greg Landsman, Dwight Evans, André Carson, Hank Johnson, Nikema Williams, Bennie Thompson, Danny Davis, Joyce Beatty, Lateefah Simon, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Shri Thanedar, and Wesley Bell.
Full text of the letter can be found here.
Last week, with the unemployment rate for Black women continuing to rise, Congresswoman Pressley convened Black women, economists, civil rights leaders, and community members in Boston for an urgent discussion about the unemployment crisis facing Black women and its impact in Massachusetts and beyond. The roundtable and press conference followed the Trump Administration’s release of the September jobs report, which revealed a 7.5% unemployment rate for Black women—an alarming spike from the 6.7% unemployment rate following the August jobs report and well above the 4.4% national rate.
In September, Congresswoman Pressley wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sounding the alarm on the rising unemployment rate for Black women in the United States and demanding the Fed take immediate action to uphold its mandate of maximum employment for all. The Congresswoman’s letter comes as the Trump Administration’s mass federal workforce layoffs and anti-DEI policies disproportionately impact Black women and as Donald Trump attempts to seize control of the Fed by illegally firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
A copy of the Congresswoman’s letter is available here.
Later in September, Congresswoman Pressley convened a press conference with a coalition of Black women activists and civil rights leaders to continue sounding the alarm on the rising number of Black women forced out of the workforce in the United States.
Rep. Pressley has consistently advocated for race-conscious policies to help close the racial wealth gap in America, uplift Black, brown, and other marginalized communities.
- Building on the legacy of Black women in the civil rights movement, Rep. Pressley led a historic resolution calling for a federal job guarantee.
- In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Congresswoman Pressley questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the issue of full employment and the Civil Rights history of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. Powell conceded, for the first time in Federal Reserve history and on the Congressional record, that the Fed alone cannot get the United States to full employment.
- Congresswoman Pressley, along with Senator Cory Booker, is the lead co-sponsor of the American Opportunity Accounts Act—also known as Baby Bonds—legislation that would create a federally-funded savings account for every American child in order to make economic opportunity a birthright for every child and help close the racial wealth gap.
- Rep. Pressley introduced the Equity in Government Act to codify racial equity across federal agencies and improve government services for underserved communities.
- Rep. Pressley has also called on the five largest banks in America to provide a detailed update on the racial equity commitments the institutions made following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
- Rep. Pressley was also a leading voice in Congress urging President Biden to cancel student debt. Following years of advocacy by Rep. Pressley—in partnership with colleagues, borrowers, and advocates like the NAACP—the Biden-Harris Administration announced a historic plan to cancel student debt that stands to benefit over 40 million people.
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