WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that just 155,000 jobs were added in February. December and January employment growth was revised down by 2,000 jobs combined. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.1% in February from 4.0 in January. The number of unemployed persons ticked down slightly to 6.8 million last month. The labor force participation rate fell slightly to 62.4%.
For women:
- The unemployment rate for adult women ticked up slightly to 3.8% from 3.7% last month.
- The unemployment rate held steady at 5.4% for black women but rose to 5.1% from 4.5% for Hispanic women.
- Women’s labor force participation held steady at 57.5%.
Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at Independent Women, issued the following statement:
“The labor market has been weakening for quite some time and February begins to show the impact of cuts to the federal workforce. Washington has expanded precipitously over the past three years. Consequently, government hiring to support the massive, inflationary spending of the Biden administration has propped up labor market growth. Eliminating unnecessary government jobs may lead to higher unemployment rates in the short term, but could pay dividends as these skilled workers find productive employment elsewhere in the coming months.
“We need a two-part pro-growth, pro-woman agenda in place: Remove restrictions on freelancing, self-employment, and gig work imposed by the Biden Administration; and make permanent the 2017 tax cuts that spurred nearly 5 million new jobs and delivered American workers pay increases, bonuses, and new benefits.”
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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.