A new Brookings Institution report reveals that while the nation’s overall unemployment rate has remained stable between June 2024 and June 2025, the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has seen a reversal of traditional employment patterns—with white unemployment increasing more than Black unemployment for the first time in years.The Brookings analysis, part of its ongoing DMV Monitor project, shows that total unemployment in the region climbed by nearly 0.6 percentage points. Nationally, unemployment for Black workers rose by more than half a percent during the same period, while overall unemployment remained virtually unchanged.The findings show that the District of Columbia’s unemployment rate rose less than in most surrounding suburbs, especially those in Northern Virginia, where many federal employees live. The District was also the only county-equivalent in the region to experience a decline in unemployment among workers of color.“While overall unemployment remained stable between June 2024 and 2025, unemployment for Black workers increased by over half a percent,” researchers Glencora Haskins and Tracy Hadden Loh wrote. “However, in the DMV region, the white unemployment rate has increased more than the Black unemployment rate.”Brookings noted that the D.C. metro area, which stands as one of the nation’s largest regional economies, is also among the most economically divided, with distinct income disparities between predominantly white and Black communities. Those divides have historically deepened during economic downturns, but the new data suggest an unusual shift that could signal longer-term labor market stagnation.Since June 2024, more than 20,000 workers in the region have joined the ranks of the unemployed, an increase of over 19% year-over-year. Still, another 20,000 have dropped out of the labor force altogether. In total, more than 46,000 workers who had jobs a year earlier were no longer employed by mid-2025.Researchers cautioned that the numbers do not yet reflect deferred resignations among federal workers who accepted buyout offers but remained on payroll until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
“These early trends may reverse as additional quarters of data become available,” Haskins and Loh said.The Brookings report attributes much of the change to federal job losses. Over the past year, the District shed more than 6,000 federal positions, while unemployment rose sharply in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County, where roughly 117,000 workers commute into D.C., including more than 27,000 federal employees.The authors warned that unemployment rates are more than temporary indicators of economic health, calling them “bellwethers for long-term socioeconomic conditions.” They cited studies showing that long-term unemployment leads to lower lifetime earnings, poorer health outcomes, and higher rates of violent crime in affected communities.Haskins and Loh urged both policymakers and private-sector leaders to act quickly.
“Leaders across sectors and geographic levels must combine efforts now to reverse labor market stagnation, diversify and grow the economy, and reduce disparities to prevent long-run damage to the region and the nation’s economic and social welfare,” they wrote.
Source: Washington Informer
