The following is a statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on the February jobs report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today:
This jobs report confirms what many workers already feel: everything is too expensive. This is an economy built for the billionaire bosses, not working people. The “big ugly bill” is coming home to roost. Jobs are down in nearly every sector, and more cuts are coming as funding that industries need dries up. For months, the only growing area has been health care, and those jobs are being ripped away, too—which disproportionately affects women workers, especially women of color. At the same time, energy prices are spiking and the cost of living overall is crushing working people.
No matter how the Trump administration tries to spin these awful numbers today, it’s clear working people need union contracts to support and protect them. Our message to Congress and the president is simple: get to work making this economy better and more affordable for workers.
Additional Analysis from Dr. Darrick Hamilton, AFL-CIO Chief Economist:
If not for the healthcare sector, the U.S. economy would have experienced a net loss of jobs over the past year. But as today’s jobs report shows, healthcare could not prop up the labor market this time—in fact, the sector lost 28,000 jobs. And with cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare subsidies stemming from last year’s Budget Reconciliation Bill, the slowdown could deepen in the healthcare labor market.
The fact that we are seeing only modest growth alongside a sluggish labor market is indicative of a K-shaped economy—one propped up by the spending habits of the wealthy and speculation in AI and data technology, while working people continue to struggle with an affordability crisis. This outcome reflects a public infrastructure that is overinvested in profit and speculation and underinvested in the American people. The so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” alone diverts nearly $4 trillion of public resources through the tax code while cutting Medicaid, food assistance, and other essential benefits.
It is also important to note that the healthcare sector is disproportionately staffed by women, particularly women of color. The unemployment rate for Black women has risen toward 7.1 percent—levels that are deeply recessionary—while the rate for Black men stands at around 7 percent. These figures underscore the persistence of racial inequities in the labor market and the need for public policy to address them.
Contact: Mia Jacobs, 202-637-5018