The labor market has been at stall speed for some time now, and the latest labor market numbers, though positive, do not change that longer-term outlook. This has resulted in increasingly unequal labor market outcomes—for instance, by race, age, and education. The lack of job market growth over the past 12 months means that those who lost their jobs or are looking for their first or a new job have an increasingly harder time finding employment. Obstacles are greater for younger workers, workers with college degrees, and Black and Asian workers. Wage growth also slowed in March and may have fallen below the inflation rate. In another sign that things are still sluggish, employers cut hours for workers. As a result of modest wage increases and falling hours, weekly earnings were flat in March. The slowing labor market, as the latest data show, is the result of the Trump administration’s policies, including but not limited to a chaotic tariff regime, widespread deportations, and attacks on federal workers.
The latest estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics do not change this assessment. The economy added 178,000 jobs in March 2026, with a gain of 186,000 in the private sector. Much of this was just a rebound from the prior month, continuing a pattern of volatile job growth for the past year or so. Looking at a longer trend, the labor market added 260,000 jobs over the past 12 months, equal to an increase of 0.2 percent, while private sector jobs increased by 502,000, or a still modest gain of 0.4 percent. That’s an average of 21,670 jobs a month in the past year in an economy with more than 158 million people working. The overall pain of sluggish job growth over the past year follows from harmful Trump administration policies such as its sweeping and illegal tariffs, which have so far failed to boost manufacturing—the purported beneficiary of these policies. On the contrary, manufacturing employment, even with a gain of 15,000 in March, is now down by 71,000 jobs since “Liberation Day” in April 2025.
These meager job gains have not been enough to forestall rising unemployment and increasing inequality. The unemployment rate declined 4.3 percent in March from 4.4 percent in the previous month as 396,000 people left the labor force. Many people left the labor market after unsuccessfully looking for a new job amid souring job prospects and high long-term unemployment.
Unemployment is unequally distributed. The unemployment rate for workers without a high school degree stood at 5.9 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for those with a high school degree, 3.6 percent for workers with some college experience, and 2.8 percent for college graduates. (see Figure 1) Unusually, the unemployment rate for those with college degrees, while lower than for other groups, was especially elevated compared with their average rates from 2023 and 2024, in large part because of the Trump administration’s attacks on federally supported research. In the past two months, though, the unemployment rate for those without a high school degree went up faster than that of other groups, returning to normal trends in a sluggish labor market.
The disparity in unemployment by age has also become worse. Unemployment among 16- to 19-year-old workers—which is always higher relative to other age groups—stood at 13.7 percent in March, compared with 3.7 percent for workers 25 to 54 years old—so-called prime-age workers. But this broad age group masks uneven unemployment changes in this group. The unemployment rate for workers 25 to 34 years old stayed at 4.8 percent in March 2026 but fell slightly from 3.3 percent to 3.2 percent for those 35 to 44 years old. Unemployment rates for those 45 to 54 years old fell even further, from 3.4 percent to 3.0 percent. (see Figure 2) These numbers highlight a growing divide by age, which is also apparent when averaging over longer periods of time. For instance, using the past two years of the Biden administration—2023 and 2024—as baseline and comparing with the average unemployment rates since then shows substantial increases in unemployment rates among different demographic groups. These increases are particularly notable for younger workers, workers with high school degrees or some college, and Black workers. (see figures above and below) The bottom line is that the economy has seen rising inequality the longer the Trump administration’s chaotic and harmful policies have been in place.
Furthermore, the unemployment experiences by race show some stark differences. Black workers had an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent in March, almost twice the unemployment rate of 3.6 percent for white workers. Moreover, the unemployment rate of Black workers was 0.6 percentage points higher over the past six months—averaged to account for the volatility in the data—compared with the previous six months. There was virtually no unemployment rate increase for white workers during that time. This pattern is common to economic slowdowns where Black workers are often the first—but not the only—workers to lose their jobs. Additionally, Asian workers’ unemployment rate has remained elevated over the course of the second Trump administration. (see Figure 3)
There is also a growing inequality between those who have a job and those looking for a job, as indicated by how long it takes unemployed workers to find a new job. Long-term unemployment has been on an upswing. The average length of unemployment stood at 25.3 weeks in March, down slightly from the prior months as long-term unemployed workers were more likely to leave the labor force. For the past 12 months, this rate—averaged over a 12-month period since it varies month to month—stood at 23.9 weeks. This is the highest 12-month average since the previous month, which was the highest since October 2022.
Given that the Trump administration has insisted on replacing one set of tariffs after being blocked by a U.S. Supreme Court decision—and the administration has sown further chaos for the economy with its war on Iran—it is likely that the pain for workers will continue.