In this moment, the future of our rights, our bodily autonomy, our freedom feels uncertain. What we do next will make a difference for decades to come.
The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed a strong jobs report for April, with 428,000 jobs added last month. Women made up 65.0% of these gains, gaining 278,000 jobs. Even with this progress, the economy is still down nearly 1.2 million net jobs since February 2020, and women are down over 829,000 net jobs since February 2020. This means that nearly seven in ten (69.7%) net jobs lost since the start of this crisis were women’s jobs.
At the same time, 181,000 women ages 20 and over left the labor force last month, meaning they are now neither working nor looking for work. This means there were over 1 million fewer women in the labor force in April 2022 than in February 2020. And while 131,000 men ages 20 and over also left the labor force last month, there were still 362,000 more men ages 20 and over in the labor force in April 2022 than in February 2020. As a result, women make up all net labor force leavers since February 2020.
Note: NWLC’s monthly jobs day analyses are generally not updated after publication and are provided for archival purposes. Please visit our main jobs day page for the most up-to-date analyses.
