By Abby Lane
February's employment data are out and the good jobs news that started 2012 continued last month, according to NWLC's number crunching. The newly released jobs data show that February was similar to January – women gained just over one-third of the more than 200,000 jobs added in each of the last two months. However, the overall unemployment rate held steady and there were no declines in the unemployment rates of adult women and men. In fact, adult women's unemployment rate still remains slightly above where it was at the start of the recovery in June 2009, while men's unemployment rate has declined more than two percentage points over the same time.
Here are the highlights from our analysis:
February was another month of fairly positive news, but it's clear women still have a long way to go in the recovery. Policy makers should focus on creating and preserving jobs for women and men and take care not to undermine the recovery that is underway. Deep budget cuts to public services would slow economic growth, cause more job losses in the public sector, and slash services urgently needed by millions of Americans who are still struggling to get back on their feet.