Recent workforce reductions across federal agencies have left Black women especially vulnerable, with tens of thousands losing their jobs even as other groups saw gains, The New York Times reported.

One of the most visible examples is Dr. Peggy Carr, chief statistician at the Department of Education, who was dismissed earlier this year after a 35-year career. She was the first Black person and first woman to lead the National Center for Education Statistics. “It was like being prosecuted in front of my family — my work family,” she said. “It was like I was being taken out like the trash, the only difference is I was being taken out the front door rather than the back door.”

According to labor data analyzed by gender economist Katica Roy, Black women lost 319,000 jobs between February and July, the only major female demographic to face such staggering losses. By contrast, white women gained 142,000 jobs, Hispanic women gained 176,000, and white men saw the largest increase with 365,000. “Black women are the canaries in the coal mine, the exclusion happens to them first,” Roy explained. “And if any other cohort thinks it’s not coming for them, they’re wrong. This is a warning, and it’s a stark one.”

​In March, the Department of Education announced cuts to nearly 1,400 jobs. The department denied that the mass layoffs focused on any specific group.

Advocates note that federal employment has historically provided Black women a pathway to middle-class stability, offering pay equity and advancement opportunities not always found in the private sector. The cuts, however, threaten to reverse decades of progress.

As one Education Department employee, Denise Joseph, put it: “My career is an extension of who I am, and it was all wiped out in one day.”