Employers Returning to This Old, Tired Hiring Practice Could Mean Trouble for Black American Workers

Trends of a rising unemployment rate in the Black community already spelled trouble for the entire country. Now, new reports on cooperate hiring techniques could have disportioncate impact on Black Americans before they even have the chance to enter the job market.

For years, hiring trends prioritize recruitment from a variety of outlets — namely through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and extended searches. Pressure from growing artificial intelligence, the Trump administration and a wobbling economy has changed everything. According to Fortune, employers are now picking from a very small group of potential applicants.

“Employers are increasingly turning to degree and GPA in a hiring decision,” Chelsea Schein, the vice president of research strategy at Veris, told Fortune. “There’s an increasing recognition among employers that they can be more targeted in their approach.”

After 2020, hiring trends began to shift away from the “talent is everywhere” approach to prioritizing college recruitment. More specifically, the trend shows more firms only tap in about 30 colleges of the total 4,000, according to Fortune. They reportedly look at elite, Ivy League universities before turning to schools physically located a company’s corporate offices… Then, they get to everyone else.

GE Appliances recorded four to five career events at only 15 institutions. The company does notably host events at HBCUs targeting Black students, but this is only a fraction of the exposure truly needed to represent the economic needs of the Black community. And as trends have shown, declines in Black economic power usually impacts the rest of America.

We previously told you about the U.S. Labor Department’s November jobs report. It found Black Americans made up 7.2 percent of the unemployed, up from 6.3 percent in 2024. The 13 percent jump in the rate in one month — May to June — even exceeded the national average of 4.2 percent.

Trends suggest other ethnic groups are also experiencing high unemployment. But it’s the statistics from the Black community that have triggered concerns.

“The Black unemployment rate is always the first to go up. That’s always the canary in the coal mine,” said Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Black folks are often the first to be hit by economic downturns in the nation. So while many could take a look at the Labor Department’s findings and not even bat an eye, a bigger issue is possibly afoot.

This is, of course, all on top of President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI push and his mass firing in various federal agencies, where Black workers make up 18 percent of the workforce. We also told you about the onslaught of businesses completely axing their DEI programs in accordance with Trump’s policy. Without them, job opportunities for all minority groups– not just Black folks– are becoming scarce.

Still, as the years go on, more Americans don’t seem to value college as they once did. An NBC survey found only one-third of voters who said a four-year degree was worth the cost. In 2025, 35 percent of Americans said a college education was “very important.” This is down from 70 percent in 2013, Gallup reported.

Higher education hasn’t taken much a hit however, according to the Education Data Initiative. Across the country, institutions awarded over 2 million bachelor’s degrees last year, up from 1.6 million in 2010.