Black Americans describe how being a federal worker was their path to the middle class — and the heartbreak of losing it
Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
- Black federal workers have historically benefited from stability, good benefits, and less discrimination.
- Trump's job cuts and DEI scrutiny, helmed by Elon Musk's DOGE office, threaten that security.
- Five former and current Black federal workers say the upheaval has hurt their finances and optimism for the future.
When BreAntra Jackson started working at the Internal Revenue Service last October, she was excited to have secured a coveted position in the federal government.
"Working at the IRS was one of the best jobs I've ever had," said the 24-year-old IRS administrator. The full-time, hybrid work schedule allowed the single mother to find stability and afford day care.
She had planned to build a lifelong career in civil service, like her predecessor, who she said had processed requests for IRS agents for three decades before retiring.
Those aspirations were interrupted on February 20 when Jackson became one of roughly 25,000 probationary workers fired by the Trump administration.
While a federal judge in mid-March deemed the firings illegal and ordered the Trump administration to reinstate workers, including Jackson, the financial uncertainty over several weeks took a toll on her savings. While she and thousands of her colleagues have returned on paid administrative leave, it may not last long. The White House's DOGE office has ordered federal agencies to devise plans to reduce staff in the coming months through less legally dubious means.
Federal jobs, with their stability and comparatively good benefits, were once a pathway to the American dream for many workers, especially for Black professionals like Jackson. Black Americans make up nearly 1 in 5 federal workers, compared to their 14% share of the US population.
Now, DOGE's hiring freezes and slashing of government jobs threaten that legacy of security for Black Americans in the federal workforce. Plus, the administration's heightened focus on DEI could make the path forward more difficult for Black workers.
"Protecting the civil rights and expanding opportunities for all Americans is a key priority of the Trump Administration," Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, wrote in an email to BI when asked about federal jobs providing a stable path to the middle class for Black Americans, which is why Trump "took decisive actions to terminate unlawful DEI preferences in the federal government."
"I was laid off and just thrown to the wolves," Jackson said. In February, Jackson was living off the money she had set aside for a down payment on a future home. She told BI it was "the first time that I've ever not had a job, not had income coming in to cover my bills," since she was 16 years old.
A pathway to middle-class security is now uncertain
Some former federal workers BI spoke with decided to take matters into their own hands, rather than subject themselves to the career rollercoaster their peers have endured in recent months.
Alphonso McCree Jr., a veteran and former visual information specialist in Veterans Affairs, started working on Capitol Hill last April. In September, he bought a house in Charles County, Maryland, where he lives with his wife and two young children. He left his job in January when he saw the budget cuts on the horizon.
"Nobody can tell what they're going to do next. It's just really unpredictable," McCree said of the Trump administration.
As the main breadwinner, McCree decided it was riskier to stay at his job than to pursue his freelance videographer business full-time.
"I needed to do what I needed to do to separate myself from their decision-making that was affecting me and my life and my family," he said.
Alphonso McCree Jr.
McCree grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. His parents worked for the federal government, and he recalls having his hair cut by a barber in the basement of their government building. He said almost everyone in his family spent their careers in civil service.
"I've never seen Black people really thriving anywhere like we do in Maryland," said the 30-year-old, adding that while "departments are being abolished and blown up, I don't know what's going to happen."
It's too soon to have data on the demographics of this year's federal government attrition; however, the Office of Personnel Management provided data on the ethnic and racial background of federal workers as of last September. This data seems to have been removed from its website in the last month; OPM did not respond to comment when BI inquired.
Joseph Dean, a research specialist who studies race and economics at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said it's clear that historically, federal jobs have played a large role in building Black wealth in the DC area — particularly in McCree's hometown of Prince George's County.
In 1970, white residents made up 84% of Prince George's County, while Black people were only 15%. In three decades, the Black population had grown to 64%. Today, Prince George's County is still known as one of the wealthiest, Black-majority counties in the nation.
"The opportunities from the federal government drew Black people, especially throughout the country, to DC to work," said Dean. Today, nearly 18% of all wages earned in Prince George's County come from federal jobs.
Black employment in the public sector dates back to the Reconstruction Era when the United States Postal Service offered some of the first jobs to formerly enslaved people, said Eric Yellin, a history professor at the University of Richmond.
In his book, "Racism in the Nation's Service," Yellin detailed how Black employment ebbed and flowed under various administrations.
"It's never certain in American society that African Americans or minorities in general will be given a fair shot," said Yellin. "It was a 50-year struggle." The civil rights movement led to the fastest progress in closing the racial wealth gap.
It was in the 1960s, when the federal government got serious about preventing discrimination in the workplace, that Black professionals began to flourish — particularly in the federal government.
Black employees face larger wage gaps in the private sector compared to their peers in the public sector due to standardized pay across identical titles and roles in the federal workforce.
"The federal government is the fairest employer in the country as a whole," said Yellin of the standardized merit tests and safeguards in federal jobs meant to prevent bias.
Ashley Shannon chose a career in public service for that reason. In the fall of 2023, Shannon was accepted into the Attorney General's Honors Program — a prestigious program that admits only a handful of entry-level attorneys each year. When she started her position at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, she felt inspired seeing other Black lawyers in leadership who had successfully matriculated to general counsel and deputy attorneys.
"In private practice, there was not as much mobility, or expectation of mobility for people in our community," said Shannon. "Black women, specifically when you look at private firms or large firms, make up less than 1% of those in partnership." In 2020, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that Black women made up 11.7% of the civilian federal workforce, nearly twice their participation in the general labor market.
Shannon moved to DC with the expectation that she would build a life-long career in civil service. She was even looking to purchase a home in the area by the end of 2025.
But seeing the layoffs for probationary employees like herself around the corner, Shannon decided to hand in a resignation letter.
"I'm going to have to move back in with my parents at 28 years old, almost 29, and that is a very defeating feeling as a very new attorney," said Shannon. "I feel like I just got done building a life out here."
Former federal workers are facing a tough job market and more scrutiny on diverse hiring
Not everyone has a safety net in the event of a job loss, and federal workers who leave their jobs are entering a tough hiring market.
Shaye, a contractor for Veterans Affairs, has spent her entire career working in the federal government from the time she was 19 years old to her early 30s. As a current federal employee fearing retaliation, she asked to only be identified by her middle name.
"Many of my co-workers have said, 'We don't even have a backup plan,'" said Shaye. "A lot of us have always worked for the government, and we don't know anything else."
Andrea Slater, director of UCLA's Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work, said that those who've dedicated a large part of their careers to public service face bigger challenges to finding work again after these layoffs.
"A lot of these jobs are very focused and so if they've been in these jobs for decades, there's a high probability that their skill set might not match up with a lot of positions and needs in the private sector," said Slater.
Then there's the added layer that Black employees and other people of color may have been singled out as part of the scrutiny leveled against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, said Yellin. This moment rings eerily of the past that he's studied.
Entering office, Trump signed an executive order "ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing."
"That was the argument that segregationists made, that when you found someone Black in a position of power or participating as equals, something had gone wrong," Yellin said. He compared the executive order to the actions of President Woodrow Wilson who purged Black workers in the federal government in the early 20th century. "There's something similar in the attacks on DEI."
On Wednesday, a group of federal employees across government agencies, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a class action lawsuit against the White House, claiming they were unlawfully fired for their participation in DEI initiatives and targeted on the basis of their race in violation of their civil rights.
"Every man and woman in this great country should have the opportunity to go as far as their hard work, individual initiative, and competence can take them. In America, grit, excellence, and perseverance are our strengths," the White House's Fields wrote.
All the upheaval has taken a heavy mental toll on Shaye, who loves her work procuring supplies for hospitals that serve veterans. She's frustrated by the insinuation that she was only hired because of her race.
"To be reduced down to that is infuriating and honestly disrespectful to the many hardworking Black federal employees," said Shaye. "I got my job because I showed that I had potential, I showed that I had drive, I showed that I wanted to be there and I was willing to learn."
The stability of Shaye's job in the federal government provided her with the opportunity to pursue the American dream: get married and buy her dream home.
"I have been able to essentially break out of the cycle of struggle," said Shaye, who was raised by a single mother who had to work several jobs to make ends meet.
Now, with the uncertainty around her employment, she feels a cloud of anxiety hanging over her head. She's been trying to alleviate her stress by blasting Lady Gaga while swinging a kettlebell at the gym and journaling about her feelings.
"I am a plan-for-the-worst type of person," said Shaye. She's cut down spending, canceling subscriptions, and is already looking for an exit plan if she is laid off. "I am operating like I am going to lose my job within the next couple of months, if not sooner."
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