17398: Mo Money No Money Mo Problems.

Adweek reported on a study revealing the obvious: women in Adland continue to make less money than male counterparts.

 

While Adweek did not indicate if the study broke down racial and ethnic data, here’s another obvious revelation: underpaid White women in Adland continue to make waaaaay more money than underpaid—and underrepresented—women of color peers.

 

Bet cash money on it.

 

Women in Advertising Are Closing Every Gap They Can. The Pay Gap Persists Anyway 

 

A new study finds a stubborn 5% pay gap and points to managerial gatekeeping and workplace social dynamics as key culprits

 

By Audrey Kemp

 

A new study examining pay in the U.S. advertising industry finds that women are still earning less than their male peers, even after accounting for nearly every variable commonly cited to explain the disparity.

 

The research, conducted by strategist Jess Watts in partnership with Dr. Nancy Wayne of UCLA and data scientist Ryan Crone, analyzed survey responses from more than 900 advertising professionals across agency types, roles, and seniority levels.

 

DNA&Stone, the independent agency where Watts joined as chief strategy officer in December (and an ADWEEK Small Agency of the Year 2025 finalist), is publishing the study.

 

After controlling for factors such as education, experience, hours worked, geography, and agency type, the researchers found that women earn about 5% less than men in advertising on average. For mothers, that figure climbs to 8%.

 

Both numbers are smaller than the broader U.S. gender wage gap but still statistically significant and, according to Watts, impossible to explain away through the usual structural arguments.

 

“We wanted to test the arguments that are often made about why the pay gap exists,” she said. “Things like education level, job choice, performance, negotiation, or hours worked. What we found is that women are aggressively mitigating all of those factors, and the gap still exists.”

 

The study began as a personal project for Watts, a notable hire for DNA&Stone who previously served as director of integrated marketing strategy and brand planning at Expedia Group since 2022. She spent roughly two and a half years researching pay disparities independently, motivated by years of anecdotal accounts from colleagues across the industry.

 

“As soon as you start working in advertising, you hear stories,” Watts said. “Women comparing salaries with co-workers or realizing a male hire at the same level is earning more. It’s something many people felt in their bones, but there wasn’t enough rigorous data validating it.”

 

Watts developed the survey in partnership with academic researchers and distributed it across professional networks including the American Advertising Federation, alumni groups, and industry communities. She ultimately collected more than 1,000 responses, with 926 included in the final analysis.

 

The perception problem

 

Beyond measuring the pay gap itself, the research also examined how industry professionals perceive pay equity, and how those perceptions compare to reality.

 

Nearly all women surveyed (96%) said they believe a gender pay gap exists in advertising. Yet only about one-third believed they personally were being underpaid because of their gender.

 

Watts said that disconnect may reflect a psychological tension between acknowledging systemic inequity and wanting to believe one’s own workplace is fair.

 

“So much of our identity is tied to our work and our salary,” she said. “It can be easier to believe the industry has a problem in general than to accept that your own company might be treating you unfairly.”

 

The study also found that pay transparency remains limited across agencies. Nearly half of women surveyed said they do not understand how salary decisions are made at their organization, and more than two-thirds said they had worked at a company where employees were discouraged from discussing pay with colleagues, a practice that is illegal under federal labor law.

 

Where the gap gets made

 

Structural opacity, however, is only part of the picture.

 

One of the clearest patterns emerged when women attempted to address perceived pay inequities with their managers. Women who raised pay concerns with supervisors, who were predominantly male in the sample, were significantly more likely to encounter indifference or stalled conversations than male employees making similar requests.

 

“Women were going to their managers and asking about pay disparities, but the conversation often stopped there,” Watts said. “Managers would say they’d look into it or push it off, and nothing would happen.”

 

By contrast, male employees were more likely to receive direct answers about promotions or pay decisions, even when the outcome was negative.

 

“That gatekeeping point, where the conversation stops at the manager level, is one of the biggest places agencies could intervene,” Watts said.

 

Another striking finding involved workplace dynamics between male and female colleagues. The study found that men who reported being uncomfortable working closely with women tended to earn more than women overall, a pattern Watts attributes to homosocial reproduction: the tendency for leaders to reward and promote people who resemble themselves.

 

“If decision-makers feel more comfortable with people who remind them of themselves, those employees may get more opportunities, bigger projects, and promotions,” Watts said. “Over time, those advantages compound financially.”

 

UCLA’s Wayne said the insights into social dynamics were among the most significant to emerge from the study. “Too often, men default to comfort and familiarity, even when it quietly reinforces inequity,” she said. “Closing the gender pay gap means encouraging men to choose fairness over comfort, and there is still a ton of work to be done to get men on board and fix this continuing problem.”

 

For Watts, the findings underscore how seemingly modest pay gaps produce substantial long-term consequences. Over a 25-year career, the study estimates the gap could translate into more than $167,000 in lost earnings for women who have never been pregnant, and more than $271,000 for mothers.

 

“That’s not small potatoes,” Watts said. “That’s student loan debt, that’s buying a home, that’s building generational wealth.”

 

Samantha Choi Cadley, founder and CEO/CCO of independent agency Manual Labor, said the dynamic is familiar. A friend of hers at a larger agency discovered she had been underpaid only when an acquisition forced the agency’s books open.

 

“She found out she was absolutely getting paid less, even as she was doing more work,” Choi Cadley said. “Not even peer-to-peer.”

 

Now running her own shop, Choi Cadley said the solution starts with who is making compensation decisions. “It’s about who you’re putting at the table,” she said. “If you have the same group of people that have come up through the same organization or model, you’re still playing the same habits, the same structure, whether intentionally or not.”

 

Watts hopes the research will prompt agencies to take concrete action, recommending pay band transparency, regular compensation audits and escalation processes so pay equity concerns do not stop at the direct manager level. Though the research predates her appointment, DNA&Stone has already begun implementing those measures internally, revising promotion guidelines to clarify how employees advance.

 

“Transparency is important,” Watts said. “But accountability is what ultimately closes the gap.”

 

Without those changes, she warns, the industry risks losing the very talent it depends on: “When nearly half of women say gender discrimination is affecting their career, eventually some of them are going to leave. And that’s not the kind of industry any of us want to be building.”

17396: No Flowers For International Women’s Day…?

 

International Women’s Day 2026 campaign theme reads: Give To Gain

 

Here’s the hype from the official IWD website:

 

When we give, we gain.

 

Together, let’s help forge gender equality through abundant giving.

 

The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.

 

Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.

 

Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women's advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.

 

What will you Give to Gain gender equality?

 

Okay, but the campaign imagery looks like women are begging for handouts.

 

Since celebrating International Women’s Day could be considered a DEIBA+ stunt, it appears Adland diminished performative propaganda for IWD this year.

 

For White women, Adland continues to present a diversity of disrespect—including gender pay gaps, sexual harassment, unequal opportunities, indifference for maternity and menopause, and much more.

 

For women of color, things get even worse.

 

The global industry presents unfair challenges to women on International Women’s Day—and all year long.

17304: Unilever CMGO Going Away.

 

Adweek reported on CMO moves at Unilever, whereby the mega-marketer appears to have simultaneously reduced DEIBA+ and increased the employment challenges faced by US Black women.

 

Unilever Won’t Replace the CMGO Title as Esi Eggleston Bracey Exits 

 

Instead, beauty and wellbeing CMO Leandro Barreto will add enterprise duties to his remit

 

By Rebecca Stewart

 

Esi Eggleston Bracey, Unilever’s chief marketing and growth officer (CMGO), is set to leave in January 2026 after just over two years in the role and eight years with the business.

 

The CMGO position will not be replaced like-for-like, Unilever confirmed to ADWEEK. Instead, Leandro Barreto, chief marketing officer, Unilever Beauty and Wellbeing, will extend his remit to include Unilever’s enterprise marketing agenda.

 

The move reflects what Unilever describes as the next phase of its marketing transformation, which will bring global marketing capabilities closer to its business groups, resulting in faster execution and impact.

 

Bracey will stay on through January to support Barreto in the transition.

 

A new marketing era

 

In 2023, Unilever (which owns over 400 brands) restructured its business around five key groups: personal care; beauty and well-being; nutrition; home care; and ice cream, which was spun off in December 2025 as the Magnum Ice Cream company.

 

As the restructuring took hold, Eggleston Bracey was appointed as CMGO to lead the team of marketers overseeing these divisions.

 

She also took responsibility for Unilever’s network of digital marketing, media, and commerce hubs, which pool talent from across the business to deliver “seamless consumer experiences” across platforms.

 

Bracey joined Unilever in 2018 as evp and chief operating officer overseeing its personal care division in North America.

 

During that time, she pioneered the company’s then purpose-driven marketing approach. She also spearheaded Dove’s efforts to back the Crown Act, a proposed federal ban on workplace discrimination based on hairstyle or texture.

 

In her two years as CMGO, Bracey has been credited with leading Unilever into its digital marketing era, placing an emphasis on driving brand relevance at scale across brands, including Dove, Hellmann’s, and Persil. She’s also pioneered AI experiments to drive marketing and content efficiencies.

 

Barreto, a 23-year Unilever vet, will now be tasked with bridging Unilever’s long-term growth ambitions with business group-level execution.

 

A ‘sales and marketing’ machine

 

Since taking the reins in March 2025, CEO Fernando Fernandez has been increasing Unilever’s marketing budget to build a “marketing and sales machine” in an environment ripe with challengers and where consumers are cutting discretionary spend.

 

So far, his strategy has included a pledge to invest 30 to 50% of its $8 billion annual ad spend to “social-first” campaigns, and work with 20-times more influencers in the process.

 

Beauty and wellbeing, for which Barreto oversees marketing, have been central to pushing up Unilever’s profits, which increased 3.9% year-on-year to reach $17.2 million in October.

17301: White Man Of The Year 2025.

Instead of the regular “Year In Review” post, MultiCultClassics introduces White Man Of The Year 2025.

 

The new honor spotlights the White Man who made the greatest negative impact on Adland in the last 12 months—as well as contributed to DEIBA+ devolution.

 

The inaugural award goes to two White men whose actions have dramatically affected the global industry, albeit in extraordinarily different ways.

 

Omnicom Chairman, CEO, and Pioneer of Diversity John Wren

 

Wren orchestrated the Omnicom acquisition of IPG, which technically began and was announced in 2024 (maybe earlier).

 

The scheme ignited global pruning, radical RIFs, and iconic nameplate erasures. And the corporate demolition/deconstruction/desecration is expected to extend into 2026 and beyond.

 

Blending an organization led by the Pioneer of Diversity with a gobbledygook-vomiting enterprise recognized for leadership in diversity and inclusion marked the pinnacle of performative PR. Then again, the lack of transparency involving anti-DEIBA+ maneuvers prohibited assessing how much collateral damage of color occurred. It’s a safe bet, however, that the acquisition accelerated the employment challenges faced by US Black women.

 

In short, thousands of livelihoods—along with countless uncounted Dawn Chambers—were eliminated.

 

President Donald J. Trump

 

Tylenol, Tariffs, Bashing Big Pharma, and Anti-Woke + Anti-DEIBA+ are just the tip of the Trump iceberg that might sink Adland. ‘Nuff said.

17299: We Heart WeLoveUs.shop

Digiday published a report on Essence launching WeLoveUs.shop, an online marketplace dedicated to Black women-led brands.

 

The content is definitely worth reading, as it underscores how everything from Target to Trump Tariffs have contributed and conspired to accelerate the employment challenges impacting US Black women.

 

Media giant Essence launches a marketplace for Black women-led brands

 

By Allison Smith

 

The story was first published by Digiday sibling ModernRetail

 

When LaToya Stirrup’s brand Kazmaleje first landed on Target’s shelves in 2022, it felt like a dream come true. The Miami-based founder had spent years building her hair-tool brand — which she launched in 2019 — and securing placement at a national big-box retailer gave her scale and visibility that would’ve been harder to achieve on her own.

 

At the time, Target touted its wholesale partnership with Kazmeleje, along with 20 other Black-owned or founded beauty brands, as part of a broader commitment to spend more than $2 billion with Black-led businesses by 2025. Target said the initiative “will help us create more equitable experiences for our Black guests, and use our company’s size, scale and resources to create economic opportunity for Black-owned businesses that extends outside of Target.”

 

But earlier this year, Stirrup noticed “a complete sales slowdown” at Target. She attributed it to consumers who had stopped shopping at the retailer because of the company’s DEI rollback. After Target announced it would scale back some of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January, calls to stop shopping at the retailer spread. Modern Retail reported in August that many once-loyal Target shoppers were still boycotting the retailer because of its DEI rollback.

 

As a result of declining sales — Stirrup declined to share exact figures — Target decided to remove Kazmaleje’s products from its physical stores, she said. Beginning in 2026, she said the brand will be sold online-only at Target, via Target.com. Target declined to comment.

 

Stirrup is one of dozens of Black women founders navigating a particularly challenging moment for small businesses. Corporate rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including at major retailers like Target, have created new uncertainty around distribution, visibility and consumer demand for Black-owned brands. At the same time, President Donald Trump’s trade war has driven up costs through steep tariffs on top trading partners, squeezing margins for founders who rely on overseas manufacturing.

 

Against that backdrop, Essence has launched WeLoveUs.shop, a new online marketplace dedicated to Black women-led brands. The platform, which officially launched earlier this month, aims to give founders an alternative sales channel at a moment when the larger retail industry has become more volatile. WeLoveUs.shop currently features about 100 brands and 1,000 products across categories like beauty, wellness, fashion and home, with more than 400 additional brands expressing interest in joining future cohorts, according to Essence.

 

The idea for WeLoveUs.shop crystallized earlier this year as the toll on Black women in business became increasingly clear, Michele Ghee, Essence’s chief content officer, told Modern Retail. Since February, nearly 600,000 Black women have been sidelined by job losses and unemployment, according to Fortune. That reality, combined with rising costs from tariffs and shrinking opportunities tied to DEI rollbacks, made the launch of WeLoveUs.shop feel urgent. It was “all hands on deck” to get the marketplace up and running as quickly as possible, with key executives and stakeholders even working over Thanksgiving. The site quietly launched in beta just after Thanksgiving, before a wider public rollout around Cyber Monday.

 

“We know so many businesses are hurting right now,” said Ghee. “Nobody is immune to what is happening in the world today, especially for marginalized communities.”

 

For Stirrup, the consumer backlash against Target made it harder for her to promote Kazmaleje’s products at the retailer. “There was a lot of pushback, especially on social media, and you couldn’t really talk about being in [Target],” she said. “That limits you from being able to advertise, because we were getting the response of, ‘We’re not shopping there.’”

 

On an earnings call in May, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the company’s first-quarter performance was dented by several factors, including “the reaction to the updates we shared on belonging in January.” He also flagged tariff uncertainty and declining consumer confidence as other headwinds. He added, “While we believe each of these factors played a role in our first quarter performance, we can’t reliably estimate the impact of each one separately.”

 

The boycott against Target underscored the risk of relying too heavily on any one channel, making WeLoveUs.shop an attractive opportunity. “You really have to have a diverse revenue stream because you never know how the market will impact you,” she said.

 

This year has also been tough for small business owners because of tariffs, which have raised costs for founders importing materials or finished goods. For Brittny Horne, founder of RVL Wellness Co., tariffs have significantly constrained growth. RVL makes therapeutic jigsaw puzzles, and the brand’s products are entirely manufactured in China, one of the most heavily tariffed countries.

 

Tariffs “definitely slowed down our production of new products,” Horne said. “It’s just one of those things — another issue we have to try to navigate and figure out a solution.”

 

Horne said she explored moving production to the U.S., but quickly ran into cost barriers. “It’s way more expensive to manufacture in the U.S., especially unless you are ordering at least 5,000 units per SKU,” she said. With 11 SKUs in her lineup, she said, “There’s no way we could afford that much at this time.”

 

The uncertainty has forced her to rethink where and how RVL can grow. “It just kind of makes you now have to rethink, ‘OK, well, what do we look forward to next?’” she said. “‘Where’s a safe space for us to go?’”

 

That led to Horne’s decision to join WeLoveUs.shop, which has led to a “really big boost” in sales since the marketplace launched at the beginning of the month. Even though it’s only been a couple of weeks since the partnership began, the majority of RVL’s orders are now coming from WeLoveUs.shop, Horne said.

 

WeLoveUs.shop takes a 35% commission per transaction. That’s higher than what other marketplaces charge. Amazon, for example, takes a cut ranging from 8-15% per transaction, depending on the product category. But Amazon also charges sellers for other services, including advertising and fulfillment. In exchange for WeLoveUs.shop’s 35% commission rate, brands gain access not just to Essence’s audience but also to its full media ecosystem, including editorial coverage, social promotion, newsletters and PR support. Other brands that spoke to Modern Retail for this story said WeLoveUs.shop’s bi-weekly payouts were also more appealing than the 90- to 120-day payment cycles common in wholesale and consignment arrangements.

 

WeLoveUs.shop is gaining traction on social media, according to Essence’s Ghee, who said Essence has leaned heavily on its existing audience and distribution muscle to promote the marketplace. Essence reaches about 75 million touchpoints each month across its digital platforms, she said, and has been using a mix of curated gift guides, newsletters and social posts to drive attention to the new shop. One recent gift guide featuring products priced under $50 generated about 10,000 impressions within the first few days, Ghee said. In another example, a social post encouraging followers to “tag a Black business” was shared roughly 5,000 times in a similarly short period.

 

“For [Essence] to be able to put their media power behind more Black-owned brands at a time of great need, when small incomes are struggling, can really support them,” said Sky Canaves, a principal retail analyst at eMarketer.

 

Melissa Mitchell, a self-taught designer who sells accessories, apparel and home decor and more through her brand Abeille Creations, echoed that sentiment. “This year has been very up and down,” she said. “With this kind of partnership, this allows me to reach people that I probably would never have on my own.”

17292: There Is No DEIBA+ In AICP…?

 

Not sure how to fully interpret the post depicted above.

 

The VP, Equity & Inclusion at AICP yesterday announced: Today is a sad day. I just learned that the AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) and the #AICP National Board have decided to join the ranks of #Target, #McDonalds, #JohnDeere, etc. in eliminating their intentional efforts to improve diversity in the #advertising and #commercialproduction areas. First the suspension of the #CDDP, the #Diverse #Directors program with the Directors Guild of America, and now eliminating the #Equity and #Inclusion position.

 

So, the AICP dismantled its heat shields and dismissed its Human Heat Shield—after only roughly three years?

 

Did anyone throw a wrap party?

 

Congratulations, AICP—you just accelerated the employment challenges faced by US Black women too.

17265: Black Women Friday.

 

The Associated Press reported on the disproportionate unemployment challenges experienced by US Black women.

 

Can’t help but wonder how worse things are for all the Dawn Chambers in Adland, who have historically been underutilized, underpaid, and underrepresented—a situation compounded by the anti-DEIBA+ vibe impacting the industry and society at large.

 

 

As Black women face unemployment challenges, a roundtable of policymakers searches for solutions

 

By Matt Brown

 

In a packed room at library in a downtown Boston, Rep. Ayanna Pressley posed a blunt question: Why are Black women, who have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the country, now seeing their unemployment rise faster than most other groups?

The replies Monday from policymakers, academics, business owners and community organizers laid out how economic headwinds facing Black women may indicate a troubling shift for the economy at large.

 

The unemployment rate for Black women increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September this year, the most recent month for available data because of the federal government shutdown.

 

That compares with a 3.2% to 3.4% increase for white women over the same period. And it extended a year-long trend of the Black women’s unemployment rate increasing at a time of broad economic uncertainty.

 

Many roundtable attendees view those numbers as both an affront and a warning about the uneven pressures on Black women.

 

“Everyone is missing out when we’re pushed out of the workforce,” said Pressley, a progressive Democrat. “That is something that I worry about now, that you have all these women with specific expertise and specializations that we’re being deprived of.”

 

And when Black women do have work, she said they tend to be “woefully underemployed.”

 

Black women had the highest labor force participation rate of any female demographic in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet their unemployment rate remains higher than other demographics of women.

 

Historically, their unemployment rate has trended slightly above the national average, widening during periods of slowed economic growth or recession. Black Americans are overrepresented in industries like retail, health and social services, and government administration, according to a 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey.

 

“Black women are at the center of the Venn diagram that is our society,” said Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, a PhD candidate in public policy and economics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

 

She pointed to April as the month when Black women’s unemployment began to diverge more sharply from other groups. A policy agenda that ignores the causes, she said, could harm the broader economy.

 

Roundtable participants cited many long-standing structural inequities but attributed most of the latest divergence to recent federal actions. They blamed the Trump administration’s downsizing of the Minority Business Development Agency and the cancellation of some federal contracts with non-profits and small businesses, saying those actions disproportionately impacted Black women. Others said tariff policies and mass federal layoffs also contributed to the strain.

 

The administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives was repeatedly mentioned by participants as a cause for a more hostile environment for Black women to find employment, customers or government contracting.

 

There is no concrete data on how many Black federal workers were laid off, fired or otherwise dismissed as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts through the federal government.

 

The attendees discussed a wide range of potential solutions to the unemployment rate for Black women, including using state budgets to bolster business development for Black women, expanding microloans to different communities, increasing government resources for contracting, requiring greater transparency on corporate hiring practices and encouraging state and federal officials to enforce anti-discrimination policies.

 

“I feel like I was just at church,” said Ruthzee Louijeune, the Boston City Council president, as the meeting wrapped up. She encouraged attendees to keep up their efforts, and she defended DEI policies as essential to a healthy workforce and political system. Without broad-based efforts, the Democrat said, the country’s business and political leadership would be “abnormal” and weakened.

 

“Any space that does not look like our country and like our cities is not normal,” she said, “and not the city or country we are trying to build.”

17073: Dawn Chambers Data Dump Displays Disturbing Job Dumps.

 

The Washington Informer reported data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Black women experienced the worst job loss of any demographic group last month.

 

An economist stated, “The unusual nature of this increase in Black women’s unemployment is a testament to and a direct result of the anti-DEI and anti-Black focus of the new administration’s policies. This is demonstrably damaging to the Black community, something we have not seen before.”

 

This is bad news for every Dawn Chambers in Adland, as they’re already disproportionately underrepresented.

 

More Than 106,000 Black Women Lost Jobs Last Month

 

By Stacy M. Brown

 

Black women experienced the steepest job loss of any demographic group in April, shedding 106,000 jobs, according to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

 

The April report shows a significant setback for Black women in the labor market, even as the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs and the national unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.

 

The number of employed Black women dropped from 10.325 million in March to 10.219 million in April. Their unemployment rate jumped from 5.1% to 6.1%, the largest month-to-month increase among all racial and gender groups.

 

Among other findings, the labor force participation rate for Black women edged to 61.2%, indicating a loss in employment and a possible decline in overall workforce engagement. The unemployment rate for white women remained unchanged at 3.3%. Hispanic women’s unemployment also held at 4.6%. Women in other groups generally do not face the dual barriers of racial and gender discrimination that Black women contend with, a factor in the jobless rate gap.

 

The overall Black unemployment rate rose to 6.3% in April, up from 6.2% in March, marking the third straight monthly increase and the highest rate since January. In contrast, Black men saw a gain in employment, dropping their jobless rate from 6.1% to 5.6%. 

 

Asian Americans had the lowest unemployment rate in April at 3.0%, while the rate for Hispanic Americans was 5.2% and 3.8% for white Americans.

 

HBCU Money reported that the number of Black women employed is now at a five-month low, while the number of unemployed Black women is at a five-month high.

 

Economist William Michael Cunningham, owner of Creative Investment Research, told Black Enterprise that the number of unemployed Black Americans increased by 29,000 in April, reaching nearly 1.4 million. At the same time, the total Black labor force declined by 7,000.

 

“The unusual nature of this increase in Black women’s unemployment is a testament to and a direct result of the anti-DEI and anti-Black focus of the new administration’s policies,” Cunningham said. “This is demonstrably damaging to the Black community, something we have not seen before.”

 

Cunningham noted that many Black women are searching for jobs but not finding them. He said eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion roles and cuts in federal government jobs are key contributors. The BLS reported that federal government employment dropped by 9,000 in April and is down 26,000 since January.

 

“For Black women, the numbers show that those seeking work are not finding jobs,” Cunningham said. “The jobs that have traditionally been a path to stability are disappearing.”

 

Nationwide, job growth continued in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Average hourly earnings increased by six cents to $36.06.

 

The Employment Situation for May is scheduled for release on Friday, June 6.