WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The economy gained 57,000 jobs in June but these gains are small compared to the 671,000 people who left the labor force in June, according to a National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) jobs analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

That brings the net total of women who have left the labor force this year to 680,000, NWLC found. In total, almost 1.1 million people aged 20 and over have left the labor force. 

“This month’s numbers are deeply concerning: over a million people leaving the labor force in the first half of a year is troublesome, but the real alarm is that women make up nearly two in three of those losses,” said Jasmine Tucker, vice president of research at NWLC. “Women’s losses between January and June are now more than double the losses we saw compared to this time last year.”

In addition:

• Nearly 1 in 4 unemployed women aged 16 and over have been looking for work for 6 months or longer (23.0%), including over 1 in 3 unemployed Asian women aged 16 and over (36.4%) and over 1 in 4 unemployed Black women aged 16 and over (28.4%).  
• Unemployment rates for Black workers remain elevated compared to other groups. 

Please let me know if you’d like to speak to Jasmine or other experts on the impact of these losses on women and their families, or receive additional topline data related to unemployment and industry changes, including by gender and race. 

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