Yahoo Finance, September 5, 2025, The Black unemployment rate is at its highest since 2021. Here’s why that’s a bad sign for the economy.
Additionally, more than a quarter of Black men worked in logistics — described as “production, transportation, and material moving occupations” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — in 2024, noted Joseph Dean, a research economist at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit group, with 18.9% being in transit specifically.
The unemployment rate for transportation workers has ticked slightly higher in recent months, though payrolls for transit and warehousing have also increased in the past year. Tariffs may be having an impact on Black employment, especially since manufacturing jobs are also being hit hard.
“Across the board, you’re seeing industries that employ large amounts of Black people either stagnant or in decline,” Dean said.
