300,000 Black women exit: July’s gender economy in four essential data points

Equity is a leading indicator of economic health, and July’s signals weren’t reassuring. We didn’t just lose jobs. We lost trust. We lost momentum. And in one especially urgent case, we lost 300,000 Black women from the labor force.

The full picture was a puzzling one: topline numbers looked solid — GDP increased, inflation cooled, overall unemployment steadied — while the labor market quietly buckled underneath.

Here’s what caught my attention and what it means for those of us steering equity programs through choppy waters.

1. 300,000 Black women: a story we can’t afford to forget

My research shows that, from April through June, nearly 300,000 Black women exited the U.S. labor force. As of the August 1, 2025 jobs report, the updated number of those absent is 233,000. Still staggering. Still unacceptable. 

Such a rapid exit is almost unheard of in modern history. This recent three-month period saw Black women’s participation in the workforce fall by 2 percentage points. For comparison, women’s overall labor participation dropped 4 percentage points among prime-age workers between 2000 and 2016 — that is, over 16 years, not a single quarter.

The sudden exodus became a flashpoint in July. At a moment when we’re short millions of workers, this level of attrition captured, in stark terms, the cost of inequity. Black women are among the most educated, entrepreneurial, and underutilized segments of the workforce. When they exit en masse, it’s not because they can’t find jobs. It’s because the labor market has stopped making sense for them.

And here’s the kicker: the economy can’t afford this loss. If we had retained those 233,000 Black women in the workforce and ensured pay equity, we’d be talking about billions added to GDP. Instead, we’re hemorrhaging potential.

2. Inflation cooled — for some

But the exodus of Black women wasn’t the only warning sign we saw in July. From rising job insecurity in care sectors to a growing mismatch between job openings and access, last month’s data reveals a labor market increasingly out of sync with reality.

The headlines focused on softer inflation, particularly in service sectors. But that’s not the full story. Women — especially Black and foreign-born women — are concentrated in exactly the sectors where price relief doesn’t equal job security: caregiving, hospitality, education, healthcare. So while the consumer price index (CPI) has slowed in headline terms, core inflation is rising again. Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) is flat overall. Under the surface, however, price softness in services may be signaling job risk, and goods-side pressures remain persistently elevated.

A quick primer: CPI shows what consumers are paying, while PPI shows what businesses are receiving before costs are passed along. PPI is not only a leading indicator of CPI; it can also foreshadow job cuts: softening prices in services often precede layoffs in related sectors where women make up a large share of the labor force, while rising prices for unprocessed goods can signal cost-cutting in administrative roles like HR and DEI.

So July’s PPI data showed prices declining in service categories tied to care, but that coincided with rising unemployment among the very women who provide that care. In short: prices fell because wages and hours did, too.

Inflation data is gendered. And it doesn’t stop at job losses. 

According to my research, the current inflation rate for goods marketed to women — like footwear and apparel — is 177% higher than for goods marketed to men. That disparity isn’t just about consumer preferences. It’s a structural issue, driven in part by the gender tariff gap, which applies different import taxes based on whether an item is labeled “men’s” or “women’s.”

If we don’t contextualize price shifts with labor equity, we risk mistaking economic slowdown for stability, and that mistake comes at the expense of women’s financial security.

3. JOLTS revealed a jobs surplus, but it’s a false comfort

At face value, the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) gave reason for optimism. The report is a monthly count of how many jobs are available, how many people got hired, and how many quit or were laid off. It provides a snapshot of how busy the job market is and how many opportunities are actually out there. July’s report showed 7.44 million job openings across the U.S. economy. But dig deeper, and you’ll see a persistent structural mismatch.

Women, especially those of color and immigrant women, aren’t lacking skills. They’re navigating broken pipelines. And the July JOLTS report makes that plain: while millions of jobs are open, the barriers to entry — credentialing requirements, licensing restrictions, and the disappearance of skilling programs — keep qualified talent locked out. The incongruity isn’t about capability; it’s about access. Until we shift from blaming individuals to reforming systems, job openings will remain aspirational.

4. GDP growth masked cracks in the foundation

The July GDP report painted a picture of unexpected strength: the economy expanded faster than anticipated in Q2. But GDP is a rearview mirror. It can’t tell us who’s being left out — or pushed out — of growth.

When we zoom out, we see:

• Black women leaving the workforce in historic numbers
• Wage growth stalling in sectors where women make up a significant share of the labor
• Childcare costs and accessibility worsening for working mothers

All of these are warning signs. GDP may be growing, but that growth is uneven, unsustainable, and undermined by structural inequity. If we want to future-proof the economy, we can’t rely on a single quarterly metric. We need to invest in the scaffolding that actually holds growth up: care, equity, and access.

The language of equity is being rewritten; we can’t let it get erased

July wasn’t just a month of economic signals. It was a month of narrative shifts.

From Google’s quiet defunding of 58 DEI organizations to political backlash against ESG and gender equity initiatives, the public conversation is continuing to shift, and not for the better.

On the federal side, DEI roles have been among the first eliminated in public agencies, and directives have restricted even data-backed, race-conscious decision-making. Combined with sweeping job cuts in agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, these policy choices reinforce the same erosion we’re seeing in the private sector.

And they don’t happen in a vacuum. When DEI infrastructure collapses, the impact is swift and measurable: lower retention for women of color, fewer inclusive hiring practices, weaker innovation pipelines, and ultimately, slower growth.

That’s why equity is an economic strategy. When it disappears from corporate budgets or federal language, the economy shrinks in kind. This moment doesn’t call for retreat; it calls for reinvestment. That means restoring public-sector roles in education and healthcare, bolstering DEI programs as core business levers, building inclusive entry paths into growth sectors like tech, and auditing policy through an intersectional gender lens. It means recognizing that a 10% rise in intersectional gender equity drives a 1–2% increase in revenue, and that equity, in turn, is one of the most powerful growth strategies available.