Donald Trump is trying to rewrite the economic story, but the numbers don’t lie: Trumponomics is squeezing working families, driving up prices, and putting more Americans out of work. Unemployment jumped to 4.2% in July, and for Black workers, it soared to 7.2%, the highest since 2021. And that’s no accident.
We’re old enough to remember when, as a candidate, Trump suggested that immigrants were taking “Black jobs,” prompting several discussions of his racist assumptions of both Black Americans and immigrant workers. The truth is, immigrants aren’t to blame for rising Black unemployment; the Trump administration is.
Trump’s federal workforce purge gutted stable middle-class jobs that disproportionately employed Black workers, especially Black women, who made up over 10% of federal employees. Then came the attacks on corporate DEI programs, wiping out thousands more jobs and helping drive nearly 30,000 Black women out of the labor force in just three months.
Trump promised to lower costs, raise wages, and expand opportunity. Instead, he’s delivered economic pain by pushing Black Americans out of their jobs.
According to the Yale Budget Lab, Trump’s economic policies will cost the average American household $2,400 this year – with families facing 40% higher prices for footwear, 38% higher prices for apparel, and a 3.3% spike in food prices.
The Trump economy clearly isn’t working for America, and it’s leaving Black workers behind all over again.
In his first term, Trump was a disaster for Black Americans:
- During his final year in office, Trump mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic and watched Black unemployment rise to 16.8% in May of 2020, even as unemployment figures dropped for other groups and workers returned to jobs in construction, health care, and hospitality.
- During Trump’s first term, the wage gap between white and Black workers didn’t shrink; it widened to $84.9 on average, and the wage gap between white and Black men rose to $105.3.
“While Donald Trump used his left hand to point out immigrants and fearmonger to Black voters, the conman was swiping their wallet with his right. It turns out the real thief was a billionaire with a bad spray tan, and even worse intentions,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby. “He gutted stable federal jobs, bullied corporations into killing off even more jobs, and watched thousands of workers disappear from the labor force in a matter of months. While families are being forced to pay more for everything from food to shoes, Trump is firing more workers to avoid taking the blame. If you’re looking for who stole the American Dream, start with the felon in the White House.”
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Published: Aug 4, 2025 | Last Modified: Aug 6, 2025