WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that just 143,000 jobs were added in January. November and December employment growth was revised up by 100,000 jobs combined. The unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4%. The number of unemployed persons ticked down slightly to 6.8 million last month. The labor force participation rate ticked up slightly to 62.6%.
For women:
- The unemployment rate for adult women ticked down slightly to 3.7% from 3.8% last month.
- The unemployment rate held steady at 5.4% for black women but fell to 4.5% from 5.3% for Hispanic women.
- Women’s labor force participation rose marginally to 57.5% from 57.4%.
Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at Independent Women’s Forum, issued the following statement:
“The jobs market is stable, but tepid for men and women looking for work. Last month’s job growth missed expectations even though the previous two months were revised upwards by a combined 100,000 jobs. Gone are the days of the Great Resignation when workers could confidently leave their jobs and end up with multiple offers after a short period of unemployment. The long-term unemployed are staying unemployed for a longer period of time.
“The women’s unemployment rate fell slightly for another month in a row, but their labor force participation rate has yet to recover to its February 2020 level just before the pandemic began. At the same time, the number of women holding down multiple jobs continues to rise to near-historic highs.
“President Trump wasted no time in setting his deregulatory and spending-reduction agenda into action. Requiring federal agencies to cut ten regulations for every new regulation will ease burdens on small businesses which can focus on growing and hiring. Slashing federal agencies and their budgets will rightsize government and move away from the inflationary federal spending that drives inflation to a 40-year high.”