The July jobs data reveal a deeply distressed economy that shed 23,000 jobs last month, driven by steep losses to hospitality jobs and local public schools. More than 25 percent of jobseekers have been looking for work for six months or longer. And this month’s slight decrease in the overall unemployment rate is not a cause for celebration. Instead, it was driven by people leaving the labor force entirely as the share of people who are working continues to decline.
Women accounted for all the job losses in July. They lost 32,000 jobs last month, driven by sizable losses in the leisure and hospitality sector (-63,000), which includes restaurants and hotels, and in the public sector (-43,000), which includes local schools. While women’s unemployment was flat at 3.7 percent, the share of women in the labor force – either working or looking for work – continues to drop. The share of women 20 and older who are working (55.6 percent) is at its lowest level since late 2021, a sign that the job market is increasingly hostile to women. Across all groups of women, the share who are working has fallen since the start of the year – and the declines have been the steepest for Black women and Latinas.
These numbers come amidst new research showing that workers are getting an ever-smaller share of national income, a finding that underscores how the economy is designed to advantage the powerful few, rather than ensuring that workers and families can thrive. It’s no wonder that women’s assessment of the government’s economic policies continues to remain near all-time lows. Women are rightly disenchanted with an administration and an economy that prioritizes corporations and profits over workers and families. One need look no further than today’s stock market, which climbed in response to the terrible jobs data.
Today’s data make clear the urgent need to advance policies that ensure that workers – especially women – are paid fairly, protected from discrimination and can bring home a bigger paycheck so that they and their families can thrive. These policies particularly matter for women of color, who face bigger barriers and systemic racism. Yet the Trump administration is pushing in the opposite direction, by proposing to eliminate critical data that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has used for 60 years to help identify employment discrimination, ensuring workers are treated and paid fairly. You can tell the administration how you feel about their efforts.
