CBPP's @gbenga-ajilore.bsky.social provides insight and analysis on the January jobs numbers released today, with a focus on the latest unemployment data for Black workers.

"...the gap b/t groups has ⬆️, w/ inequality of wage growth b/t college-educated & working class growing to levels we haven’t seen since the recovery from the global financial crisis. Perhaps this inequality is one of the underlying reasons consumer sentiment has ⬇️ over the past year."

Today's Jobs Report reveals blue-collar industries are struggling in Trump's economy. Additionally, working-class people made up less than a quarter of total job growth in Trump's first year. Check out the latest analysis from @saraestep.bsky.social and me ⇣ www.americanprogress.org/article/work...

Today's jobs data, with continued warning signs for Black women, has me and @kfgrobbins.bsky.social worried. Check out our analysis: nationalpartnership.org/weak-job-mar...

Today's #JobsReport highlights: - payroll job growth 130k in January, but benchmark revisions show 2025 much weaker than originally reported - unemployment rate at 4.3%, up from 4.0% last January - federal government continues to lose jobs #EconSky @epi.org #NumbersDay

BLS #jobsreport better than expected for Jan, but confirms much slower 2025 than orig. reported -Payrolls +130k in Jan vs. +48k in Dec -Payroll revisions (-898k for Mar '25 level), in line w/ expectations, bring 2025 job gains down to 181,000 from 584,000 -Unemp down to 4.3% in Jan from 4.4% 1/

Gun Owners of America is lobbying Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which would require a majority of Americans to show a passport to register to vote. But GOA opposes any law that requires showing a drivers license to buy a gun. These are not serious people.

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

New piece from @jaredb-econ.bsky.social and me showing how the fiscal situation has deteriorated under Trump. Jared and I are two notable fiscal doves. We explain why doves should reexamine some of our priors. Crucially, we *must not* cut crucial services when looking at course correction. Thread

But the drop in openings certainly highlights the challenges facing jobseekers right now. The number of openings per unemployed worker fell to 0.87, the fewest since 2021. It is not a good time to be looking for a job. #NumbersDay

Job openings fell sharply in December, to their lowest level since September 2020. I would caution, though, that we've seen several of these big moves that have either been revised away or have reversed the following month. #JOLTS

#JOLTS Dec report: -Hires rate 3.3%, up from 3.2% in Nov -Quits rate flat at 2% -Openings drop sharply to 6.5m, from 6.9m in Nov -Layoffs up marginally to 1.76m, from 1.7m in Nov Mixed data but imo, the stable hires/quits is higher signal than the sharp drop in the volatile openings series 1/

December JOLTS data - in line with what I expected: 1/ Very weak hiring (though not weakening further at present). 2/ Quits stable. 3/ Low firing. The fall surge in layoff announcements has barely materialized into any actual layoffs.

Real wages declined 0.3% for low-wage workers in 2025, a stark departure from the unusually strong wage gains they had experienced over the previous five years. This reversal was not inevitable—it was caused by policy decisions that weakened the labor market. #EconSky @epi.org @joe-fast.bsky.social

America awaits… No America NEEDS A new release date for the December JOLTS data

the "party of small government" is really out here being like "can you even imagine how inconvenient it would be if we had to adhere to the constitution" imagine!!!!!

Another government shutdown, another delay in key economic data. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/b... #NumbersDay #EconSky

(1/3) Working to explain here: ICE and CBP continue to run during a shutdown. Because of OBBBA, they continue to run w/ pay. But even without OBBBA, they'd run w/out pay. That makes leverage weak, but not nothing. The funding deal splits off DHS from the other parts. This provides maximum leverage.

Protection isn’t the only way that gendered narratives mobilize violence. What we are seeing in Minnesota is also about punishment. From our colleagues at @msmagazine.com:

Masked law enforcement is NOT normal—and we're fighting back with legislation that puts transparency first.

They are charging Don Lemon under the FACE act (designed to prevent interference with abortion clinics) and Conspiracy to Deprive Rights (which dates back to the end of slavery, and is also known as the KKK act). Irony has been beaten to death with a sledgehammer.

Bondi directed federal agents to arrest four journalists. Georgia Fort, Don Lemon, Jamael Lundy, and Trahern Crews. All Black. All doing their jobs.

As @kashenj.bsky.social tells @ehaspel.bsky.social in the @us.theguardian.com, “Ultimately, having universal childcare as the goal is something that not only serves the families directly who will benefit from it, but it really serves everyone.”

I am a broken record saying the foundation of society is food, shelter, and medical care. But actually the foundation is not having the government execute you for protecting your fellow citizens. Democrats owe it to the American people to use every ounce of their limited leverage to fight this.

We should all be clear-eyed about how difficult it is to force change when you don’t even control a single chamber of Congress. But it matters that opposition to this moment be as strong as it possibly can be, even if we fall short. Democrats owe it to the country to fight with all their might.

Trump recently urged lawmakers to pass the SAVE Act—here's how this dangerous legislation would block millions of Americans from voting.

Working-class shifts in the 2025 gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey were led by nonwhite voters and suggest that economic issues can move some voters. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/working-class-voters-shifted-slightly-toward-democrats-in-the-2025-gubernatorial-elections/

Black women started 2025 with an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. They ended it at 7.3 percent — the highest rate in four years. Black women’s unemployment is now equivalent to White women’s rate during the bleakest moments of the Great Recession. 19thnews.org/2026/01/blac...

Trump's first year in office was anything but optimistic for Americans' pocketbooks. With higher costs due to tariffs, rising unemployment, and more expensive everyday essentials such as groceries, health care, and utilities, Americans are feeling the strain of Trump's economy.

States don’t have to wait for Washington to act on health care consolidation. My new issue brief for @americanprogress.bsky.social highlights state laws targeting private equity, corporate control, and excessive hospital prices: www.americanprogress.org/article/how-...

The 2026 financial outlook for American families is not looking good—despite what Trump claims. Are you better off than you were a year ago?

The 15 richest people in America saw their collective wealth jump nearly $1 trillion during Trump's year back in office. Many of them were standing alongside Trump at his inauguration one year ago today. How are you doing?

In the 365 days since being inaugurated, Trump has made more than $1.8 BILLION from personal gifts and crypto gains. https://www.americanprogress.org/feature/trumps-take/

I want to highlight some AMAZING work from my friend and colleague @caseydoherty.bsky.social on voting under guardianship that came out at the end of last year. You can read a full report here: www.americanprogress.org/article/demo...

Are you better off than you were a year ago? After a year of Trump's economy, Americans' attitudes and latest economic data answer that question with a resounding "NO." Check out how Trump's first year made life less affordable ⇣ www.americanprogress.org/article/a-ye...

Read our full analysis here: nationalpartnership.org/indigenous-a...

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the federal agency that oversees programs like SNAP, WIC, and school meals, has apparently lost one-third of its staff in the last year.

Today's #JobsReport tells us the economy is decidedly weaker than a year ago: -unemployment rate is 4.4%, up from 4.1% last Dec -payroll employment up 50k; total gain this year only 585k compared to 2.0 million in 2024 -federal employment is down 277k since Jan, a loss of 9.2% federal jobs #EconSky

There ratio of job openings to unemployed workers fell to its lowest level since the pandemic (and well below the pre-covid level). Shows how the labor market has weakened meaningfully for those looking for work.

Overall, October revisions and November rebound in quits make data look a little better, though trend doesn't look substantially different. Sluggish hires rate is still the data point causing the most angst for workers as it has for the last 2 years or so. 6/6

Become ungovernable

This is Trump's "golden age" in action...

One reason to look forward to 2026: 19 states enact minimum wage increases that will boost pay for over 8.3 million workers. 💵 For the first time, workers in a state with a $15/hr wage floor will outnumber those in states with the federal minimum of $7.25/hr—a poverty wage. 1/

Excluding covid, the unemployment rate is at its highest level in over 8 years. The labor market is deteriorating particularly quickly for young workers, who are facing a 10.6% unemployment rate.

And if you're just a regular person navigating the labor market, then I wouldn't blame you for feeling ill at ease. If you need a job, it's hard to find one. If you have a job, you're probably nervous about losing it, and you almost certainly aren't getting a big raise.

November's jobs report was concerning, even with wonky data making it more difficult to parse. The warning signs from Black workers are very much there, spelling out more weakness ahead. www.americanprogress.org/article/nove...

NYC: Senators Schumer + Gillibrand both voted "yes" on the federal trans athlete ban, in case you need yet another reason to hope they never have a moment's public peace & want to call and wish them (another) happy "get primaried into to the stone age"

Another notable trend in today's payroll release is the gradual slowdown in nominal wage growth. As the unemployment rate rises, workers struggle to find jobs and have less leverage when it comes to demand higher wages. Both indicate a slowdown in affordability for workers and their families.

This is the highest unemployment rate since the pandemic. Trump's tariffs have created an economic disaster for Americans.

How does recent growth compare to recent years? Economy added .93 million jobs over 12 months to Nov 2025. That's the weakest over-the-year job growth into Nov in at least 16 years, besides 2020.