THE SOUTHERN TRUTH UCLA’s Alarming Report Raises a Question California Can No Longer Ignore: What Happens When Political Progress Does Not Produce Economic Progress?
By Dr. Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief
As California continues counting ballots from the June 2 Primary Election, reporting compiled by veteran journalist Joe W. Bowers Jr. of California Black Media (CBM) reveals that Black candidates across the state continue to demonstrate political resilience and electoral strength. Black elected officials remain visible throughout California’s congressional, legislative, and constitutional offices. Representation remains significant, and Black political influence remains undeniable. Yet while election results tell one story, a newly released report from UCLA tells another. And it is a story that should concern every Californian. The UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, through its Black Policy Project, recently released a troubling report titled Unequal Ground: Black Californians’ Employment in a Shifting Economy, 2024-2025.
The findings are difficult to ignore. According to UCLA researchers, Black Californians experienced the largest increase in unemployment of any racial group in California between 2024 and 2025. Unemployment rose from 5.6 percent to 7.5 percent, nearly twice the rate experienced by White Californians. Black women experienced one of the steepest declines in employment stability. Unemployment among Black women more than doubled during the period examined by the study. Even more alarming, Black women with college degrees saw unemployment more than triple in a single year. The report further documents a dramatic rise in involuntary part-time employment among Black Californians. In plain language, more people who wanted full-time jobs could only find part-time work. Perhaps most troubling was the report’s finding of growing “institutional disconnection” among Black Californians—individuals who are neither employed nor enrolled in school. Historically, such indicators serve as warning signs for broader social and economic challenges.
The UCLA report should not be viewed as merely a collection of statistics.
It is a warning.
For generations, public-sector employment, education, entrepreneurship, and workforce development served as pathways into the middle class for many Black Californians. According to UCLA, many of those pathways are becoming increasingly fragile. Dr. Michael Stoll, Faculty Director of UCLA’s Black Policy Project, observed that employment pathways that historically helped Black Californians achieve middle-class.
