March 6, 2026
Unemployment data–February 2026 Charts Related to BLS Employment Release Top ten charts 0f 2025 AEA STATE of WORKING AMERICA Data Library,
Baker, CEPR 3/6/2026 “Employers lost 92,000 jobs in February, and the three-month average gain is just 6,000 jobs, indicating clear labor market weakening. Most sectors lost jobs, including health care, manufacturing, construction, and restaurants. Unemployment rose for Black workers and young people, groups typically hit hardest by economic slowdowns. Weather likely distorted the data, boosting January jobs and making February appear worse.Wage growth held steady at 3.8 percent, still slightly above inflation despite the weaker job market.”
EPI jobs blog, 3/6/26: “U.S. economy lost an alarming 92,000 jobs in FebruaryPrivate sector experienced vast majority of losses, one-third were due to temporary strikes…..Job losses in Feb were most acute in health care, due to striking workers who have since gone back to work. Notable losses as well in leisure and hospitality and educational services. Job were added in financial activities and social assistance.” Elise Gould @elisegould.bsky.social
Ember, Romm, C. Smith, Casselman NY Times, 3/6/26 “Job growth fizzled in February, a sign of unexpected weakness in the labor market…..The report dimmed the picture of the labor market and all but shut down the prospect of a swift resurgence in growth after an anemic year of hiring that was weighed down by economic uncertainty. ….The cost of some groceries and other goods remains stubbornly high. The price of gasoline is starting to soar. And the labor market is heading in the wrong direction, after employers last month slashed jobs by the thousands. Together, the developments might suggest that the U.S. economy was under heightened strain. But the White House on Friday continued to project optimism about the nation’s trajectory…Weak jobs data underscores the Fed’s dilemma as the war stokes inflation risks…..The Trump administration is blaming the weak jobs report partly on the winter storms that swept across much of the country last month. That isn’t inherently implausible — it isn’t unusual for bad weather to skew the jobs numbers — but the February data doesn’t show a clear weather effect.”
….. Economists were expecting job growth to slow somewhat after a surprisingly strong January – in part due a major labor strike by health care workers and a deep cold snap that hit many US states. The consensus estimates were for a net gain of 60,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to hold steady, FactSet estimates show.”
Kaplan;Hoff, Business Insider, 2/11/26 “Shocking job loss in February…. While the jobs data was rough for just about every sector, the tech industry has been particularly hard hit. Economist Joey Politano wrote on X that employment across a range of tech industries has fallen by 57,000 over the past year after shedding 12,000 payrolls in February — losses that he noted are “significantly worse” than both the 2008 and 2020 recessions. ….The labor force participation rate fell slightly, from 62.1% in January to 62% in February, the lowest rate since December 2021. Still, Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said labor force participation is still holding up but there are some issues. “We’re seeing that people are still being brought into the labor market, but they’re being brought into a labor market with fewer job opportunities being created for them,” Stahle said…..Economists and job-market experts were largely pessimistic after the huge miss.” February’s jobs report takes the air out of the room following the optimistic rise in jobs in January,” Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s chief economist, said.”
ZeroHedge, 3/6/26 “Jobs Shock: US Lost 92K Payrolls In February, Far Below Lowest Estimate, As Unemployment Rate Rises….The number of private payrolls dropped by 86K, also a huge miss to estimates of a 60K increase…..One potential mitigating factor: the number of people who were unable to work due to weather surged to 228K in February, well above last year’s level 167K, due to the powerful winter storms hitting the US…..Looking under the surface does not reveal as silver lining: part-time workers dropped by 249K while full-time workers slid by 100K…..Perhaps the only silver lining was that native-born workers jumped by 877K (which was only a modest reversal of the 2.5 million drop last month), while foreign born workers dropped by 394K…..Excluding the temporary effects, Bloomberg’s economists think payrolls probably are growing at a pace of around 20k per month. That’s slightly below the breakeven pace, explaining the rise in the unemployment rate for the month. While we will have more to say about this report, the kneejerk reaction is, well, bad: this was about as ugly as it could be, and coming in a time when input costs are soaring due to the Iran war, it screams AI-driven stagflation. Indeed, Bloomberg’s Anna Wong hesitates to dismiss the weakness as entirely temporary, a study by Bloomberg Economics and Bloomberg Intelligence of corporate earnings-call transcripts flags that companies across a broad set of industries intend to keep hiring flat this year.“
Baker and Cai, Masking Real Unemployment: The Overall and Racial Impact of Survey Non-Response on Measured Labor Market Outcomes, 3/21
Flexible work: What workers, especially low-wage workers, really want and how best to provide it, Poydock et al, EPI 7/24 Summary: Many workers, especially low-wage workers, aren’t getting key benefits they want—such as paid leave and predictable schedules—because lawmakers are letting companies and employers get away with anti-worker practices.
American Capitalism Has Produced Its Most Remarkable Innovation Yet: Breadlines Savage, Jacobin 5/23 “As one commentator succinctly put it: ‘1) Too many people have jobs so the [Federal Reserve] raises rates to boost unemployment in the name of taming inflation. 2) People lose their jobs, making them need food stamps. 3) Politicians demand those same people get jobs to be eligible for food stamps, but the jobs are now harder to get.'” See a Bloomberg report on lines at food banks. One such line outside a Boston Red Cross facility “stretched the length of two football fields.”
Bivens & Shierholz, EPI 12/18 What labor market changes have generated inequality and wage suppression?
Equitable Growth Research showing rising mortality rates among white Americans suggests that increasing economic insecurity for this group may play a role in increasing mortality. New research shows that one form of insecurity—higher unemployment rates—is strongly associated with higher opioid death rates. The paper, … a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, looks at the connection between unemployment and opioid abuse.
The EMRATIO [the ratio of employed to the the civilian noninstitutional population aged 16 years and over] that is employed.has not fully recovered its pre-crisis level as of 3/24. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=453007#0
Labor force participation rate [labor force as a % of civilian noninstitutional population] recovery since the recession by age, Fed. Res., St Louis. Note: except for those 55 and over, labor force participation rates have not yet recovered pre-crisis levels. 9/19 data. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=316679#0
Full-time workers: http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea06.htm
Over 8.3 million workers will benefit from minimum wage increases on January 1 .Nineteen states will raise their minimum wages.Hicky, EPI
More than 2.1 billion of world’s 3.6 billion workers are in the informal economy, ILO Executive Summary 2026
You’re Not Bad At Job Hunting—30% Of Job Postings Are Fake, Castrillon, Forbes, 11/25
Why Do Americans Work So Many Hours?, Taylor, Conversable Ecomomist 9/25
How a Historic Immigration Drop Is Changing the Job Market; Lack of newcomers keeps unemployment low for now but will undercut long-run growth if it persists Kiernan, WSJ, 8/24/25
Trump’s firing of BLS commissioner is undemocratic and economically dangerous, Shierholz, EPI 8/1/25
The effects of AI on firms and workers, Babina & Fedyk, Brookings, 7/25
Many older workers have difficult jobs that put them at risk Working longer is not a viable solution to the retirement crisis, Morrissey, EPI 5/23
Worker Rights and Wages Policy Watch, EPI
Blue Collar Jobs Tracker, CEPR
The Big Shift From Salaries to Bonus-Based Pay, Fuhrmans, WSJ9/24
How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available? CBPP, 6/24
Job Openings Rise in December But Quits Tell the Real Story Mishtalk, 1/24
Union Reformers Made Labor History in 2023. They’re Just Getting Started, Eidlin, In These Times, 1/24
Why Criminal Justice Reform Is Becoming a Corporate Priority, Maddox DMag. 9/23
New Data on Formerly Incarcerated People’s Employment Reveal Labor Market Injustices, Wang & Bertram, Prison Policy Initiative 9/22
The impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, Zipperer, EPI 7/23
Sick Workers Tied to 40% of Food Poisoning Outbreaks, C.D.C. Says, NY Times 6/23
Could 300,000 Job Openings Be Fake? Here’s Why Goldman Thinks They Might Be, Saul, Forbes 5/23
Racial Differences in Unemployment Insurance, Ananat & Gassman-Pines, EconoFact 4/23
Employment of “People with a Disability” Spiked to Record in Hot Labor Market, Richter, Wolf Street 2/3/23
Union membership rate 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021, but numbers up 1/23
Workplace Fatalities Hit Highest Rate Since 2016, Wells, Mfgnet 12/22
As Fed Pushes to ‘Get Wages Down,’ Study Shows CEO Pay Has Soared by 1,460% Since 1978 Workers pay rose by 18.1% between 1978 and 2021, Johnson, Common Dreams, 10/22
On the Clock and Tracked to the Minute, Kantor & Sundaram, NYT 8/15/22 “Offline work–doing math problems…reading printouts, thinking–didn’t register…”
Black Youth: More Likely to Need a Job, Less Likely to Get One, CEPR 8/22
Most Price Increases from Inflation Have Gone to Corporate Profits The inflation panic is causing some Democrats to pivot from social spending to deficit reduction. That’s exactly the wrong approach. / In These Times 5/22
Botched policy responses to globalization have decimated manufacturing employment with often overlooked costs for … workers of color, Scott etal, EPI 1/22
Union membership resumes its fall, Henwood, 1/22
Record number of minimum wage increases set for 2022, Gonzalez, Axios 12/21
The Great Escape The most vulnerable people in America have started the closest thing we’ve seen in a century to a general strike. Dayen, TAP 11/21
A record number of workers are quitting their jobs, empowered by new leverage Rosenberg, Wash.Post, 10/21
Quantifying the Impact of the Fight for $15: $150 Billion in Raises for 26 Million Workers…, Lathrop, Lester, & Wilson, NELP 7/21
Reforming unemployment insurance, EPI 6/21
Identifying the policy levers generating wage suppression and wage inequality, Mishel & Bivens, EPI 5/21
Bosses in the US Have Far Too Much Power to Lay Off Workers Whenever They Feel Like It, Sheehan, Jacobin, 6/20
Obsession With Fraud Sabotages U.S. Aid to Millions Without Jobs, Kochkodin, 5/20 Bloomberg
Replacing workers has many costs, Carleton, Conversation 4/20
You’re the Real Job Creator: An interview with Stephanie Kelton, N+1 4/20
What the historically low U.S. unemployment rate means for women workers, Cumming, Equitable Growth, 3/20
Low-wage work is more pervasive than you think” Ross & Bateman, Brookings, 11/19
Labor Historian Staughton Lynd’s Book Is Embraced by Google Workers and Uber Drivers, 10/19
The Military-Industrial Jobs Scam, Tomgram: Harris, Stimpson, and Freeman, 8/19
Black workers are being left behind by full employment, Perry, Brookings 6/19
Want to decrease suicide? Raise the minimum wage, researchers suggest, Cerullo, CBS News, 4/19
The Bogus Justification for Worker Non-Compete Clauses, Vaheesan, On Labor 4/19
Major Work Stoppages in 2018, BLS 2/19
Updated employment multipliers for the U.S. economy, Bivens, EPI 1/19
“…one new manufacturing job in the U.S. results in 7.4 new jobs in other industries. Whereas one new retail job creates just 1.2 new jobs.The only two industries with higher indirect job losses are utilities (9.6 to 1) and real estate and rental leasing (8.8 to 1).” J. Bivens, EPI GRAPHIC 1/19
How shareholder profits conquered capitalism – and how workers can win back its benefits for themselves, Brennan, Conversation, 10/18
Standards Go Out The Window As Employers Struggle To Fill Jobs,
Mystery of the Underpaid American Worker, Lindorff, Counterpunch 8/18
“In total, RTW laws have led to a 14.2% increase in occupational mortality through decreased unionisation.” Does ‘right to work’ imperil the right to health? The effect of labour unions on workplace fatalities, Zoorob Occup. Envir. Med. 6/18
Grand Theft Paycheck: wage theft is pervasive in Corporate America. Good Jobs First, 6/18
Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements —MAY 2017, BLS 6/18
Federal investigators this month identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung cases ever officially recorded.
Medicaid Work Requirement Would Harm Unemployed, Not Promote Work, Katch, CBPP 1/18
Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Experiment Is a Success, 1/18
Employment Hysteresis from the Great Recession, Yagan NBER 9/17
Where Have All the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate, Krueger, Brookings 9/17
How today’s unions help working people: Giving workers the power to improve their jobs and unrig the economy, Bivens et al, EPI 8/17
US Opioid Use Linked To Unemployment, Moreno, ibtimes, 8/17 NBER studyNew Report Finds Corporate Tax Cuts Boost CEO Pay, Not Jobs, Anderson, IPS 8/17
Macroeconomic Conditions and Opioid Abuse, Hollingsworth et al, NBER 2/17
‘Superstar Firms’ May Have Shrunk Workers’ Share of Income, Cohen, NYT 3/17
Falling Labor Force Participation: Demographics or Lack of Jobs? Dantas & Wray 2/17
Economic Realities in America: By The Numbers, Pearle ABC News 1/17
American Marriage in the Time of the Recession, Campbell, Atlantic 11/16
Happy Labor Day! There Has Never Been a Middle Class Without Strong Unions, Schwarz, Intercept 9/16
Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality Bucknor, CEPR 8/16
When workers don’t get paid sick days, everyone else is more likely to get sick, Paquette, Wash. Post, 8/16
‘Middle class’ used to denote comfort and security. Not anymore Quart, Guardian 7/16
“There are three main reasons the vaunted economic recovery still feels false to so many. The first is the labor participation rate, which plunged at the start of the Great Recession and discounts the millions of Americans who have been out of work for six months or more. The second is “the 1099 economy,” … the soaring number of temps, contractors, freelancers, and other often involuntarily self-employed workers. The third is a surge in low-wage service jobs, coupled with a corresponding decrease in middle-class jobs.” Why America’s impressive 5% unemployment rate feels like a lie for so many Kendzior, Quartz 4/16
Business Leaders Have Abandoned the Middle Class, Haque, HBR, 6/16
Producing Poverty: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Production Jobs in Manufacturing Berkeley Labor Ctr 5/16
Report of 10,000 severe workplace injuries might be only half the problem, Wash. Post, 3/16
The missing puzzle piece of the global economic recovery is finally falling into place, Bird 6/15
State, Met. Area Employment and Unemployment Data, BLS
The Missing Piece of the Global Recovery
Interactive map: Unemployment rates by state, BLS
International Labor Comparisons, BLS
At Amazon.com “cheap” comes at a very hefty price, Hightower 8/14
Report Uncovers the Real Costs of Outsourcing Public Services, JwJ 3/14
Do You Have Job Fear? What’s Why We Need Full Employment, Johnson CAF 8/13
How Government spent your income taxes, National Priorities Project
How America Can Create Jobs, Andy Grove, Intel, BW 7/10
Unions and Other Community Groups Benefit Local Economic Development 8/09
Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns, CEPR 3/09
Conference Board Employment Trends Index
No-Benefit Jobs Leave Parents Struggling, H. Boushey, Sojourners, S/O 07
Unemployment may depress immune function, 4/07
Data–employment, earnings, family income, hours, prices, unionization
Finding the better fit: Receiving unemployment insurance increases likelihood of re-employment with health insurance, Heather Boushey
Ownership Society–Social Security Is Only the BeginningWray, Levy Inst.
Injuries to All [workplace injuries]