WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 187,000 jobs were added in August, holding steady from the previous month. The unemployment rate jumped up to 3.8% (seasonally adjusted) from 3.5%, and the number of unemployed persons spiked to 6 million. The labor force participation ticked up slightly to 62.8%, but still below its pre-pandemic level. 

For women:

  • The unemployment rate for adult women ticked up to 3.2% from 3.1%.
  • The unemployment rate fell to 4.7% from 5.2% for adult black women and rose to 4.4% from 4% for Hispanic women.
  • Women’s labor force participation ticked up to 59%, still below its pre-pandemic level.

Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at Independent Women’s Forum, issued the following statement:

“The Biden economic agenda has delivered another damaging jobs report. Beyond the headline unemployment rate rising to 3.8%, there are other trouble trends: there are over half a million more unemployed workers than last month; 110,000 fewer jobs were created in June and July combined than previously reported; and the unemployment rates for men and women are picking up. These trends spell bad news for American workers who relied on the availability of jobs with higher pay as a cushion against 40-year-high inflation.

“American households are stretched. Pandemic savings are far spent, credit card debt has hit a new milestone high, and delinquencies are rising. Sixty-one percent of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck. The resumption of student loan payments this month after a three-year pause will undoubtedly add significant new pressures on millions of households. 

“Bidenomics has no answers to these challenges but has triggered and compounded the hardship. Americans have connected the dots between reckless federal spending policies and inflation. Their disapproval of Biden’s handling of the economy is a rightful rejection of his misguided economic approach of spending our way into–not out of–economic problems.

“Even worse, the Biden Department of Labor will soon finalize new labor regulations that will greatly reduce flexibility and freedom of independent contracting work for the nation’s 65+ million freelancers. With high prices, Americans need access to income-generating opportunities, especially those that fit their individual needs.”

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Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities.

Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) aims to educate the public about how government policies impact people’s opportunities for economic development and upward mobility.