(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Mass layoffs and the adjoining attack on DEI threaten to turn back some of the gains of a growing Black middle class.
By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Tyler Mitchell From Word In Black
Within weeks, the Trump administration has ousted dozens of career officials, undone decades of policy aimed at removing barriers for Black inclusion, and signaled a return to patronage rather than merit.
The recent wave of federal firings and policy shifts under the Trump administration represents a dismantling of government policy and practice that has led the private sector in opportunities for African Americans. Much of the private sector still lags greatly behind the government — the largest employer in our economy — in including African Americans at all levels of their workforce.
As leaders from different generations, we see this attack on the government workforce from two critical vantage points: its immediate threat to current federal workers and its chilling effect on the next generation of public servants.
For decades, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ research has shown that federal employment has been transformative for Black Americans. These positions offer significantly better benefits, anti-discrimination protections, and traditional job security. Though wages in government positions are often less than in the private sector, the combination of job security and better benefits have proven to be a stronger path to wealth building than similar work in the private sector.
As the Center for American Progress reports, Black workers in the private sector have only about 10% of the wealth of white workers, but Black workers in the public sector have almost half the wealth of white workers. The radical changes in government policy proposed by the new Department of Government Efficiency threaten the progress found in the public sector and threaten to erase the public sector as an opportunity for greater African American economic security.
Yet these numbers only scratch the surface of the personal impact these jobs have on real lives. As a college senior preparing to graduate this spring, I’ve watched with growing alarm as my classmates reconsider their career paths. Many of us grew up watching our parents and grandparents build careers in federal service, whether it was in the U.S. Postal Service, where Black employees make up 27% of the workforce, or in other federal agencies.
The U.S. government has historically led the way in providing workforce opportunities for Black Americans. The military and the government sector, more broadly, has often set standards for racial progress that the private sector took decades to approach. For example, President Truman in 1948 produced two executive orders that would shift employment practices nationwide for the following generations.
Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 ordered the desegregation of the federal workforce and the armed forces. This tradition of merit-based advancement in federal service set a norm that the private sector would gradually integrate. These jobs laid the basis for a Black middle class. The radical shake-up of government employment and the adjoining attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion threaten to turn back some of the gains of a growing Black middle class in the final decades of the 20th century.
Why invest years preparing for a government career if they can just fire you for political reasons?
The unprecedented firing of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commissioners and National Labor Relations Board officials, including Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the labor board, signals a dramatic shift in worker protections. On campus, we’re already seeing the effects.
Talented students who once dreamed of careers in public service are now looking elsewhere. “Why invest years preparing for a government career if they can just fire you for political reasons?” one classmate recently asked. The very features that attracted top talent to federal service are now under attack. Undermining these protections doesn’t just harm current employees; it discourages the next generation of Black civil servants before we even begin our careers.
Economist Steven C. Pitts documented in his research prior to the Great Recession that public administration was among the five most common occupations for Black workers, with Black workers in the public sector earning “20 percent to 50 percent more than in the other four most common occupations.” The data showed what many Black families already knew from experience: federal jobs offered not just employment, but a genuine path to greater economic security.
When the civil service is weakened and civil servants are replaced with political appointees or contractors, or key jobs go unfilled, we all suffer from degraded government effectiveness. All Americans will feel the effects with potential slower processing of Social Security claims, delays in veterans’ benefits, compromised food safety oversight, and a heightened risk of cronyism replacing expertise. A broad-based and merit-focused workforce is fundamental to delivering quality government services, holding leaders accountable, and ensuring our tax dollars are used responsibly. These are outcomes every citizen relies on.
Undermining merit-based employment systems makes our government more vulnerable to corruption and political manipulation. Strong civil service protections protect both workers and the integrity of government operations that serve all citizens. When career experts can be fired at will, they’re less likely to stand up to political pressure or report wrongdoing.
The future of the Black economic advancement hangs in the balance.
Progress in federal employment didn’t come easily. Each generation had to fight to expand and protect these opportunities. Today’s assault on federal workers isn’t just about current employees — it’s an attempt to break this chain of progress.
We must protect current federal workers while strengthening pathways for the next generation of public servants. This means maintaining strong civil service protections and ensuring that young people of all backgrounds see a future for themselves in government service. For current federal workers, their families, and the next generation of public servants, we must defend these institutions against those who would dismantle them. The future of the Black economic advancement — and the promise of opportunity for all Americans — hangs in the balance.
Tyler Mitchell is the outgoing president of the Morgan State University Political Science Association, class of 2025. Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
