The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released their monthly “Jobs Report,” showing continued job growth in the U.S. labor market. Even with a net sum of 228 jobs added, all eyes are on how attacks on the federal workforce are showing up in the data, with 4,000 federal jobs lost in March after 11,000 lost in February. Job losses among the largest employer in the United States not only risks spilling over to the entire economy, but women workers are particularly poised to be harmed by the tumultuous labor market wrought by conservative economy policy under the Trump Administration.
In March, the overall labor market stayed on track and unemployment stayed nearly the same as previous months. Both women’s and men’s unemployment stayed the same at 4.1% and 4.2%. With financial markets reacting negatively to the Trump Administration’s economic policy, from large tariffs to big federal layoffs, labor and consumer markets are waiting with bated breath to see how widespread the economic impact will be. This month’s data doesn’t yet show major signs of harm in total numbers of workers, but these harms will not only be total payroll employment levels or unemployment rates. How the Administration treats federal workers also targets women’s engagement and success as workers as women’s economic opportunities are critical to family financial stability.
One of the first orders of business for the Trump administration was to call back federal remote workers to their offices (while also, in some cases, making unclear exactly where offices would be located and with workers arriving at offices with no supplies). As long as women continue to do the majority of caregiving within families, these workplace policies will disproportionately harm women. Recent research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that 71% of women workers who have access to remote and flexible work options are satisfied with their ability to manage work-life balance, compared to less than half without access to remote and flexible work. And it’s not just satisfaction that is at risk, but workplace quality matters for retention 38% of mothers with young children would have to reduce hours or leave jobs without access to workplace flexibility.
Federal layoffs may also have disproportionate harms for women, despite being only 45% of federal workers. Research has found that young women who are displaced when there are layoffs take longer to find a new job, which is likely due to the differential impact of family planning on women’s careers compared to men’s during their 20s. This is yet another way that women’s care responsibility limits their labor market opportunities. Shrinking the labor force while making it less amenable to managing care at the same time will only ensure there are fewer opportunities for women.
And more recently, an executive order was signed that exempts any agency with “national security missions” from collective bargaining requirements. Unions not only help all workers, but they are especially critical for those who have historically faced discrimination in the labor market and hostility at work – namely women workers and Black workers. By standardizing pay and promotion trajectories, unions have mitigated workplace biases that have benefited white men at the expense of equally skilled women and workers of color. When the country’s largest employer starts ignoring workplace practices and norms, other employers are bound to follow suit. This move by the administration could be the second version of the 1981 PATCO strike where air traffic controllers were fired by then-President Reagan, which in turn strongly influenced the subsequent precipitous decline in the power of unions in the U.S. to raise wages and living standards for all.
A lot still remains unknown about how attacks on the federal workforce will damage the economy. The direct labor market impacts we’re just starting to see say nothing of the role of federal programs in stabilizing and stimulating the entire economy. But research and data on women’s employment as government workers and beyond suggest that Trump’s overt misogyny is also reflected in how downsizing the federal workforce and making federal jobs worse will harm women workers everywhere.