This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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Women now outnumber men in the paid workforce. This is raising alarm bells for many as they worry about the decline in good jobs for middle- and working- class men as well as the downstream effects, such as declining marriage rates, and men who have dropped out of the labor market entirely. The good news is there are many possible ways to help male workers. But they aren&#8217;t going to fit into a 280-character tweet about the gender wars.
The federal government recently released this <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium=owned_social&amp;utm_source=x&amp;utm_campaign=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium%3Downed_social%26utm_source%3Dx%26utm_campaign%3Deditorial&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2CSl4WPZl1PgVLRexMLv1I">remarkable statistic</a>: When it comes to non-farm jobs, there are more gals than guys. This has happened before. More women than men were working during the Great Recession in 2009, as well as right before the 2020 pandemic. Overall, however, the changes in male vs. female workforce participation are dramatic. In 1990, there were about 7 million more employed men than women. Today? The gender gap has narrowed to nothing.
The Left looks at these stats and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-women-are-a-lifeline-for-their-families-and-the-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-women-are-a-lifeline-for-their-families-and-the-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mn6spsICF1qSuA41bnQzd">interprets them as</a> a story of women’s empowerment and female career success. Many conservatives, by contrast, <a href="https://x.com/emlwaters/status/2037725919893127588?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/emlwaters/status/2037725919893127588?s%3D20&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1m-7DPJTukaX1zNVfAvxo3">see</a> potential long-term negative impacts on the social fabric, including fewer marriages and children. Stepping back to look at the full picture of male and female employment, however, provides another option: We don’t need to have <a href="https://thedispatch.com/article/great-feminization-sex-workplace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thedispatch.com/article/great-feminization-sex-workplace/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1DeTK5EzVZVGiNayI7UGvx">another round of the gender wars in 2026</a>. To be clear, male unemployment is a serious issue that should receive sustained attention from politicians interested in the common good. However, prudent policymakers should consider how to help American men find good jobs while resisting calls to place them in a zero-sum competition with women.
First, the stats. Women now narrowly outnumber men in non-farm jobs, but this doesn’t tell the whole story, since men on average still <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/gender-pay-gap-in-us-has-narrowed-slightly-over-2-decades/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/04/gender-pay-gap-in-us-has-narrowed-slightly-over-2-decades/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0lYE0n11whEMKkzhgPq4Q4">significantly out-earn</a> women. Likewise, many more women than men are <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/widget" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/widget&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Y9-R79ZYSS0guKhaAQcV5">simply not</a> in the labor force at all, frequently devoting themselves to full-time care of the home, children, or the elderly in unpaid, but still enormously socially valuable, work. Put another way, the number of women in the paid workforce has increased significantly, but men still get paid more and are less likely than women to drop out of the labor force entirely to care for family and community.
Focusing on the men and women who work in our formal economy, the trend line is striking. Women are clearly working at much higher rates than they did 40 years ago. Whatever social media personalities might claim, however, it is far from obvious that the presence of women in the workforce is disadvantageous to men.
Instead, looking at the broad picture: declining male employment in recent years is largely driven by broad economic forces. American companies just aren’t hiring as much in fields that used to provide stable jobs for working-class men. As Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium=owned_social&amp;utm_source=x&amp;utm_campaign=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.axios.com/2026/03/27/women-jobs-health-care?utm_medium%3Downed_social%26utm_source%3Dx%26utm_campaign%3Deditorial&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2CSl4WPZl1PgVLRexMLv1I">reports</a>, hiring “in construction and manufacturing has been relatively flat or negative.” Pushing women out of the workforce isn’t going to increase the number of jobs in sectors dominated by blue-collar men.
The most likely solutions instead will come from well-designed <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/industrial-policy-right-and-wrong" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/industrial-policy-right-and-wrong&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2e2R3-yiZQsX0JWsvRXUEL">industrial policy</a> to boost domestic manufacturing and thoughtful responses to <a href="https://americancompass.org/two-cheers-for-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://americancompass.org/two-cheers-for-automation/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2dt2pqlbSg87Kz_1McudTz">industrial automation</a>. Efforts to <a href="https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-lead-the-charge-on-building-americas-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-lead-the-charge-on-building-americas-infrastructure/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw25MVIPkm9q2x3ESwThGStJ">boost infrastructure investment</a> and <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/whats-in-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/whats-in-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0GhPiYduCOMciKKDeiuPIV">housing reform</a> will also likely help, since both should lead to an uptick in hiring in fields more likely to employ men. Likewise, some analysts <a href="https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/commentary/cracking-down-illegal-immigration-would-raise-wages-lower-income" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.heritage.org/jobs-and-labor/commentary/cracking-down-illegal-immigration-would-raise-wages-lower-income&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1vLRxSoDq0l4YuciDN44gw">believe</a> limiting immigration in sectors that are predominantly held by men could also boost both employment of U.S. citizens and their paychecks.
Additionally, men have fallen behind as the economy shifts toward greater reliance on the healthcare sector, which is traditionally disproportionately female. These jobs don’t need to remain overwhelmingly held by women, however. Richard Reeves, the president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, has <a href="https://aibm.org/research/the-heal-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://aibm.org/research/the-heal-economy/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3xw_7U9M6eQq3QSBt8l9XG">called</a> for efforts to get men into “HEAL” jobs — health, education, arts, and literacy — in order to meet this challenge. Reeves notes the success of businesses and policymakers in moving more women into the STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. He suggests that the failure to integrate men into nursing, teaching in K-12 schools, and the like, means “missed job opportunities for men as well as a damaging lack of men in some vitally important roles.”
As the mother of four kids, three of whom are boys, I can attest to the importance of making sure young men have a wide range of positive male role models in their lives. For many boys, the presence of more men as public school teachers, running after-school education programs … or even as EMT techs or ER nurses … might make a significant difference in the trajectory of their lives, providing needed examples of healthy masculinity that focus on service and stability — rather than video game addiction and pot. Additionally, when my dad went through a period of extensive hospitalization, I remember his male nurses with fondness. Although the women who cared for him were wonderful, he seemed to have a special connection with the men who took competent, careful care of him when he was too ill to care for himself. Encouraging men to join the HEAL professions can fill a needed gap not only in the economy but also in providing a positive, distinctly masculine contribution to an important sector. We sometimes think of jobs in the “care economy” as “pink collar,” but just as a family benefits from the distinct contributions of both dad and mom, the nursing and education professions would benefit from more men.
There are two elephants remaining in the room to consider. It is shamefully true that in both the C-suite and certain prestigious fields of work (like <a href="https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-vanishing-white-male-writer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-vanishing-white-male-writer/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0vKXyUBh45jxiSVuMnhKz8">fiction writing and screenplay creation</a>), there are still numerous DEI measures and explicit or implicit quotas that have disadvantaged (primarily white) men to the benefit of women. While the average male construction worker is not personally negatively implicated by DEI hiring in elite publishing houses, that doesn’t make those programs right. We must pay more attention to measures that could help working-class men in the trades and manufacturing, but we also ought to work toward ending unjust discrimination against men, including getting rid of the justly unpopular <a href="https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/men-and-women-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/men-and-women-work&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1phNMyPW4ebjgitfaapUds">disparate impact test</a>, which pushes large businesses to consider the proportion of men vs. women on their payroll.
Likewise, it’s impossible to talk about male employment numbers without also talking about male unemployability. As Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, <a href="https://thedispatch.com/article/marriage-rates-socioeconomics-men-trailing/?gift_key=db5875debd7f3ee9&amp;gift_ref=dc24904f-7bc3-42a5-96d0-fe916fd59cf0&amp;utm_source=giftlink&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_campaign=membergift" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thedispatch.com/article/marriage-rates-socioeconomics-men-trailing/?gift_key%3Ddb5875debd7f3ee9%26gift_ref%3Ddc24904f-7bc3-42a5-96d0-fe916fd59cf0%26utm_source%3Dgiftlink%26utm_medium%3Dcopy_link%26utm_campaign%3Dmembergift&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1775744533728000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3wz0oiaCRXSGSaeIjypgmv">writes</a>: “One in 4 young men use weed, and a good many are acting out violent scripts they learned from pornography or gambling their weekly earnings on a prop bet.” Many working-class men seem caught in a vicious circle, in which various vices — especially drug use — make it harder for them to find and keep stable, good-paying jobs, resulting in them leaning further on drugs, video games, etc. to get through the days.
The declining number of men in the American workforce is indeed a serious problem. But the problem is not women. Instead of trying to return to an idealized vision of the 1950s, addressing male workforce participation will require a complex and sophisticated bucket of fixes that looks at construction and manufacturing, immigration, drug policy, and DEI measures. A push for creating well-designed policy measures to boost male workforce participation is not going to go viral, unlike calls to kick women back into the kitchen. However, they are the changes that will actually help America’s working-class men, who need and deserve a hand up from their elected officials.
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Ivana Greco has several jobs, but her favorite is being a homeschooling mom of four.

GettyImages-2214754484

The Workforce Flip That Could Change Marriage, Family, And The Future Of Men

Gender

Jobs

Upstream

Blue America is best for families. For years, America’s elites have insisted that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">blue states</a> — with their higher incomes, better-<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/32782">educated residents</a>, and expansive public services — are the best places to raise a family. Progressive policies such as paid family leave, childcare subsidies, and gender-neutral bathroom mandates, we were told, would draw parents in droves. Such policies prove “that one major party cares about children and families, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">the other does not</a>,” according to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/30/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27">liberal journalist</a> Catherine Rampell. 
But the data tell a different tale. Across the country, families are packing up and leaving blue states for red states. They are also more likely to have children in red states to begin with. 
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">2026 Family Structure Index</a>, just released by the Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies, tracks family health across all 50 states. It focuses on three measures: marriage rates, fertility rates, and the share of children raised by married parents. These factors shape everything from child poverty to the health of the American Dream. 
What it reveals is a growing divide in where families are choosing to live — and where they are choosing to start a family.
Call it the Great American Family Sort.
Married couples with children are increasingly moving to red and purple states. From 2019 to 2024, 840,000 married families with children moved from blue states to red ones, while 470,000 moved in the opposite direction — a net gain of 370,000 such families for red states. 
Red states also enjoy higher fertility rates, all of which helps explain why red states have <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-lefts-family-problem-marriage-and-kids-cratering-among-liberal-young-adults">seen</a> a 7.3% increase in their child population since 2000, while blue states have seen a 7.1% decline. That shift is another indicator that Red America is proving more hospitable to family life.
In other words, <a href="https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-blue-state-family-exodus-families-are-migrating-to-red-and-purple-states">blue states</a> long seen as the best places to raise children by liberal elites — states like California, Massachusetts, and New York — are steadily losing them.
Why? Start with what families actually need: jobs, homes, and safe neighborhoods. On each of these fronts, many red states are delivering. Over the past decade, states like Texas, Florida, and South Carolina have seen strong job growth, especially in sectors that support middle-class life. When young adults can find steady, well-paying work, they are more likely to marry and start families.
Housing is just as critical. Affordable single-family homes provide the space and stability families <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">want</a>. Yet in many blue states, especially on the coasts, restrictive zoning and high costs have pushed homeownership out of reach for young families. In much of red America, that dream remains attainable.
Taxes also shape family <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/americans-moving-to-states/">migration</a>. Lower tax burdens in many red states leave families with more room in their budgets, whether for childcare, a good private school, or saving for the future.
<div id="attachment_1073407" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1073407" class="size-large wp-image-1073407" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg" alt="San Francisco, CA, USA - August 17, 2020. Image of a moving truck parked in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1329602381-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />James Rice. Getty Images.</div>
Safety matters as well. Parents want to raise children in communities where they feel <a href="https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-a-pro-family-housing-agenda">secure</a>. States and cities that keep crime and public disorder low have a clear advantage in attracting and retaining families, even as many blue states are “plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction,” all of which are turnoffs to families, as even the liberal columnist Nick Kristof has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/15/opinion/progressives-california-portland.html">admitted</a>.
Still, economics alone does not explain what is happening. Family culture also matters. In many red states, there remains a stronger expectation around marriage and family formation, often stemming from deeply held religious beliefs. Social norms shaped by churches, civic life, and local leadership still influence how people live. Faith remains a powerful driver of American family life.
The <a href="https://familystructureindex.org/">Family Structure Index</a> underscores this point. Frequent religious attendance accounts for 57% of the variance in fertility rates across states. States with high religious attendance, such as Utah and Mississippi, have far higher birth rates than states like Vermont or Massachusetts, where churchgoing is rare.
None of this suggests that red states have solved every problem. Marriage and fertility are down nationwide, and no region is immune. But the trend is clear: families seem more likely to thrive in some states rather than others. That should tell policymakers something important. If states want to attract and keep families, the formula is straightforward: make housing attainable, foster job growth, keep communities safe, and support a culture that encourages marriage and child-rearing. 
The deeper lesson is harder to accept. For too long, liberal elites have assumed that higher incomes and more government spending automatically lead to better outcomes for families. The evidence suggests otherwise. Public safety, good jobs, affordable homes, and culture matter just as much, if not more.
The Great American Family Sort is more than a demographic shift. It is a signal. Families are making their priorities clear through where they choose to live and have children. The question is whether the rest of the country is paying attention.
* * *
Aaron Baer is president of the Center for Christian Virtue. 
Brad Wilcox is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies.

Asheville and Johnson City exit sign on highway in Tennessee on interstate 81 road

Turns Out Families Are Voting With Their Feet And Headed In One Direction

Blue States

Conservatives

Crime

Democrats

family

Florida

Homelessness

Opinion

Red States

Social Issues

Tennessee

Texas

Employers in the United States added <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_04032026.htm">178,000</a> jobs in March, more than tripling expectations of  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/the-march-jobs-report-will-be-released-on-friday-heres-what-to-expect.html">59,000</a>, while the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%.        
The labor market rebounded after a lackluster February report, which showed payrolls declined by 133,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose slightly. Job gains in March were led by healthcare, construction, transportation, and warehouse. Healthcare added 76,000 jobs. About half of those gains reflect the return of workers who had been on strike. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SMASHING ECONOMISTS&#8217; EXPECTATIONS! <a href="https://t.co/LkbKz54rzh">pic.twitter.com/LkbKz54rzh</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2040066344322793574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Construction added 26,000 jobs, while transportation and warehousing grew by 21,000, signaling continued strength in infrastructure and logistics-related sectors. Leisure and hospitality rebounded partly due to warmer weather last month, adding 44,000 jobs. Manufacturing added 15,000, but finance lost that same amount.
Federal government employment continued to decline, falling by 18,000 jobs in March and down 355,000 from its peak in October 2024 during the Biden administration.
Wages also continued to rise. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% in March to $37.38, following gains in February. 
Markets are closed today for Good Friday, but the stronger-than-expected jobs report may influence investor expectations when trading resumes. A resilient labor market could also reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, as the central bank has pointed to persistently elevated inflation as a reason to hold off on easing policy.

“now hiring” sign posted on business door

Jobs Report Crushes Expectations. See The Numbers

Unemployment

According to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/see-how-hollywoods-job-market-is-collapsing-230be437?mod=e2tw">new report</a> from The Wall Street Journal, the Hollywood job market is collapsing at an alarming rate.
The news outlet found that entertainment motion picture and video production employment saw a 30% reduction in jobs as compared to 2022. That includes work for actors, carpenters, costume makers, and the hundreds of other professions behind movies and TV shows.
WSJ noted that studios are making fewer movies and shows in general, and that when they do, those projects are often being made in countries that offer cheaper prices for filming.
Noah Wyle, who stars in and serves as executive producer of the popular medical drama “The Pitt,” said it was “a near cratering of our once thriving industry.”
The outlet noted that studios, labor unions, and soundstage owners have been pushing for a federal tax incentive of 15%, which could be combined with state incentives ranging from 20% to 40%. They claim this would entice studios to bring production back to the United States.
But even if those incentives brought the action back to Hollywood, it wouldn’t solve the issue of a general downturn in output. Hollywood has been serving up <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-just-had-its-worst-summer-box-office-in-over-40-years">a lot of flops lately</a>, and that track record has led to major studios being more cautious with what they’re willing to make. This likely has a lot to do with churning out woke crap that audiences are sick of seeing, even if they’d never admit it.
The bad box office results are being blamed on the rise of streaming, short attention spans in the TikTok age, and a general refusal of audiences to return to theaters in a post-COVID world, among other issues. Hollywood analysts insist there is too much competition to make a great hit. But then a success story like “Project Hail Mary” comes along and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-learned-the-wrong-lesson-from-project-hail-mary">blows that theory to shreds</a>.
In September, President Trump addressed the issue, threatening a “100% tariff” on films made overseas in an effort to bring movie production back to the United States.
“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” the president shared in a Truth Social post at the time, echoing similar statements he made in May.

Distressed image of movie clapperboard

Hollywood Is In Deep Trouble And May Have Itself To Blame

employment

Entertainment

Hollywood

Los Angeles

Wokeness

The job market just delivered a reality check.
Instead of the job gains economists were expecting, the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, according to new federal data. Forecasters had predicted employers would add about 50,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.4%, signaling the labor market may be cooling after several years of strong hiring.
The weaker-than-expected report comes as businesses face a mix of economic uncertainty and rapid technological change that is beginning to reshape hiring across several industries.
One bright spot in the report was wages. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose by 15 cents in February, continuing a recent trend of steady wage growth that has helped many workers keep pace with inflation.
The federal government workforce continued shrinking, shedding another 10,000 jobs last month. Since October, federal employment has declined by roughly 333,000 positions, reflecting ongoing efforts to reduce government payrolls.
And the job losses weren’t limited to just one corner of the economy.
Healthcare, which saw strong hiring in January, lost 28,000 jobs, with strike activity cited as the primary driver behind the decline.
Transportation and warehousing also fell by 11,000 jobs, concentrated among couriers and messengers — a category that includes major delivery companies such as UPS and FedEx. UPS recently announced plans to reduce its workforce as part of a broader restructuring effort.
The information sector, which includes telecommunications companies, cloud services, digital media, and publishing, also declined by 11,000 jobs.
Some areas did see modest gains. Social assistance, which includes services supporting families, children, seniors, and vulnerable populations, added 9,000 jobs in February.
Meanwhile, employment in construction, manufacturing, retail, financial services, and hospitality showed little change during the month.
In short, the hiring boom may finally be slowing down.
Economists and employers say a mix of economic uncertainty, automation, and rapid advances in artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping hiring decisions across the economy.

Top view of warehouse worker using laptop to check location of goods.

The Job Market Delivers A Surprise Economists Didn’t See Coming

Economy

Politics

Wages

New federal data released Friday showed inflation slowing and wages rising in January, trends the Trump administration says signal improving affordability.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 2.4% last month, below the 2.5% forecast. Markets rose following the news.
Average hourly earnings rose <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">3.7%</a> over the past year, outpacing inflation and reflecting real wage growth. Private-sector employers added more than 170,000 jobs in January.
“We saw real wage growth in 2025,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. &#8220;It could be very strong in 2026, and I think the American people are going to start feeling it.”
The White House said the data reflect the success of President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic policies.
“President Trump has defeated Joe Biden’s inflation crisis in record time,&#8221; said White House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers. &#8220;Inflation is low, wages are up, and the American economy is booming — all thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth agenda. President Trump is working hard to Make America Affordable Again — just like he promised.” 
&#8220;Real wages are up $1,400 in 2025 — nearly half of Biden era real wage decline made up for in just one year thanks to President Trump,&#8221; said White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai. &#8220;This is just the beginning: President Trump&#8217;s MFN drug pricing deals, tax cuts, trade deals, and deregulation are just starting to take effect.&#8221;
When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, annual inflation was running at 1.9%. During his term, inflation averaged 4.9% and peaked at 9.1% in 2022. Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in 2021, which included $1,400 direct payments to Americans.
“Joe Biden crashed the economy,” Bessent said. “The policies were a disaster for the American people.” 
Bessent argued that the Biden administration boosted demand through increased government spending while constraining supply with tighter regulations, driving up inflation. 
The January data marks the latest sign that inflationary pressures may be easing as the administration pushes its affordability agenda.

Consumer Prices See Largest Increases In 30 Years

Inflation Cools, Wages Rise As Trump White House Celebrates Affordability Gains

Inflation

Scott Bessent

The Washington Post cut nearly one-third of its workforce on Wednesday, terminating some 300 employees and axing several editorial sections entirely.
According to several reports detailing the situation, executive editor Matt Murray and human resources director Wayne Connell informed employees that they were to work from home on Wednesday and be on hand to attend a Zoom webinar where they&#8217;d be informed of &#8220;some significant actions across the company.&#8221;
The &#8220;significant actions&#8221; mentioned appear to be the abrupt termination of the current sports section, the books section, and the Post Reports podcast — along with hundreds of employees across several different sections.
Several employees shared the news directly on X.
Correspondent Yeganeh Torbati posted, &#8220;I&#8217;m heartbroken to announce that I&#8217;ve been laid off from my position at The Washington Post. Working at this newspaper, and especially being a foreign correspondent covering Iran and Turkey over the last few short months, was a dream come true for me.&#8221;
Sports columnist Barry Svrluga announced the demise of his own section: &#8220;&#8216;First, we will be closing the Sports department in its current form.&#8217; — Matt Murray, editor of the Post.&#8221;
&#8220;Some personal news: I’m among today’s @washingtonpost layoffs. It was a dream 11-year run as an investigative reporter focused on sports—making billionaires tremble (or at least mildly annoying them and their lawyers),&#8221; said sports investigative reporter Will Hobson.
Caroline O&#8217;Donovan, Amazon beat reporter: &#8220;I’m out, along with just a ton of the best in the biz. Horrible.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m among the hundreds of people laid off by The Post,&#8221; race and ethnicity reporter Emmanuel Felton claimed that the move was &#8220;ideological&#8221; because his job had previously been labeled a boon for the outlet. &#8220;This comes six months after hearing in a national meeting that race coverage drives subscriptions. This wasn’t a financial decision, it was an ideological one.&#8221;
Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler added, &#8220;After 8 years writing the tech column @washingtonpost, I am among folks who were laid off today. I’m grateful for the stories I got to tell and the impact we made on privacy, sustainability &amp; AI.&#8221;
Critics of the move complained that the cuts were a bridge too far.
Retired Washington Post editor Robert McCartney added, &#8220;Apparently The Post has laid off every reporter and editor covering the Middle East. Jerusalem bureau closed. Also Ukraine bureau closed.&#8221;
&#8220;The @WashPost has now laid off its Asia editor, its New Delhi bureau chief, its Sydney bureau chief, its Cairo bureau chief, the entire Middle East reporting team, China correspondents, Iran correspondents, Turkey correspondents, and many more. The world is becoming less America-centric by the minute while the United States is becoming more America-centric than ever. It is just a depressing yet somehow perfect summation of our current moment that one of the most important newspapers in the history of the country — one that has actually shaped the history of the United States &#8211; doesn&#8217;t think reporting on the world is of any use anymore. What an utterly perfect encapsulation of where we have arrived,&#8221; Evan Feigenbaum posted.
But some argued that the cuts were the obvious next step, and people should have seen them coming.
&#8220;Over the last decade at the Washington Post: — A number of major corrections and journalistic scandals. —Major intra-newsroom drama with reporters threatening to sue the paper. — Declining circulation and losing lots of money. Stop acting like the layoffs are shocking,&#8221; Mark Hemingway posted.
Clay Travis added, &#8220;The Washington Post made its business contingent on far left wing subscribers who hated Trump &amp; when Bezos became embarrassed by the far left wing product that created, he tried to fix it by moving closer to the center. But the Post’s subscribers revolted, crushing the business.&#8221;
&#8220;The business lesson here is newspaper subscribers at the WaPo and New York Times don’t want centrist, fair journalism, they want to be told their political opponents are evil Nazis and they are the heroic good guys. That narrative must dominate all coverage,&#8221; he added.

Washington Post

Legacy News Outlet Tells Hundreds To Work From Home On Wednesday, Cuts 300 Jobs In Zoom Meeting

Legacy Media Takes Another Blow As Storied Outlet Cuts 300 Jobs

Journalism

Media

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. employment growth slowed more than expected in December amid job losses in the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, but a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.4% suggested the labor market was not rapidly deteriorating.
The Labor Department&#8217;s closely watched employment report on Friday also showed solid wage growth last month, bolstering economists&#8217; expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged at its January 27-28 meeting.
Businesses are also holding back on hiring, unsure of their staffing needs as they invest heavily in artificial intelligence. The economy is experiencing a jobless expansion, with growth and worker productivity surging in the third quarter, which was partly attributed to AI.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 jobs last month after a downwardly revised rise of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department&#8217;s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a gain of 60,000 jobs after a previously reported increase of 64,000 in November.
The labor market lost considerable momentum last year, with only 584,000 jobs added, averaging 49,000 positions per month. Roughly 2 million jobs were created in 2024, though this number could be revised lower when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its payrolls benchmark revision next month with the January employment report.
The bureau has estimated about 911,000 fewer jobs were created in the 12 months through March 2025 than previously reported.
The overcounting has been blamed on the birth-death model, which is used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate how many jobs were gained or lost because of companies opening or closing in a given month. The bureau said last month that it would, starting in January, change the birth-death model it uses by incorporating current sample information each month.
On Friday, President Donald Trump&#8217;s Labor Department focused on 2025 net job growth going to American-born workers.
&#8220;Under President Trump, we’re recovering from the economic disaster left by Joe Biden and AMERICANS are coming FIRST. Last year, ALL net job growth went to American-Born Workers in the Private Sector,&#8221; the Labor Department <a href="https://x.com/USDOL/status/2009631348563026176">said</a>. &#8220;More progress to be made this year, but we’re getting our nation back on track.&#8221;
The Trump administration&#8217;s claims of &#8220;all net job growth&#8221; going to Americans are disputed by some economists, but Trump&#8217;s immigration policies are resulting in a decrease in foreign born workers in the American workforce.
DECEMBER JOB GROWTH LIMITED TO HANDFUL OF INDUSTRIES
Job gains last month were confined to a few industries, with employment at restaurants and bars increasing by 27,000 positions. Healthcare industry payrolls rose by 21,000, with most of the gains occurring at hospitals. The increase was well below the average monthly gain of 34,000 jobs in 2025 and 56,000 in 2024. The social assistance sector added 17,000 jobs last month.
The retail industry shed 25,000 jobs, while manufacturing lost another 8,000 positions. Economists have attributed factory job losses to the Trump administration&#8217;s tariff increases. Trump has ironically defended the import duties as necessary to revive the manufacturing industry. Construction payrolls decreased by 11,000 in December.
Wages increased 3.8% on a year-over-year basis after rising 3.6% in November, helping to underpin the economy through consumer spending.
U.S. stocks were trading largely flat. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury yields were mixed.
Together with the December employment report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published annual revisions to the household survey data for the past five years. The unemployment rate is calculated from the household survey.
The annual population control adjustments, normally incorporated with the January employment report, will be released in March. The unemployment rate for November was revised down to 4.5% from the previously reported 4.6%. Economists had expected the jobless rate to ease to 4.5% in December.
Some economists say low supply has prevented a sharp rise in the unemployment rate. They estimated that between 50,000 and 120,000 jobs need to be created each month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
The Fed cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to the 3.50%-3.75% range in December, but U.S. central bank officials indicated they were likely to pause further reductions in borrowing costs for now to get a better sense of the economy&#8217;s direction.
With factors like tariffs and AI preventing companies from hiring more workers, economists increasingly view the labor market&#8217;s challenges as more structural than cyclical, which would make rate cuts less effective to stimulate job growth.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)

A Chipotle restaurant advertises it is hiring in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., August 28, 2023.

U.S. Job Growth Stuck In Slow Gear In December; Unemployment Rate Dips To 4.4%

Donald Trump

Trump Administration

Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. In this piece, originally published in June, former college president Greg Salsbury recounts the cost of California’s failed leadership.
* * *
Perhaps it is fitting that legendary Beach Boy and California native son Brian Wilson would pass away in the same year that a New York Times headline would ask, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/us/california-turmoil-resilience.html">“Is the California Dream a Mirage?”</a>
The social, environmental and economic disaster that is California has been mushrooming for decades now, with any improvements in the near term looking about as likely as a working bullet train from the north to the south in that state. The litany of negative facts emerging for the state is accompanied by descriptors such as “worst,” “first,” “record,” “ballooning,” “unsustainable,” “disaster,” and “mismanagement.” These ills are detailed in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-assemblyman-explains-how-state-has-mismanaged-fire-prevention-policies-as-wildfires-rage">myriad</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bad-policy-served-as-kindling-for-californias-wildfires-forest-water-management-social-justice-c5b94a4f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAif-IufnKaxHOP49zFGTHPZhQuqrXUEi-2TLq3CTiNpkYvlSDqNxFWNzK60iAw%3D&amp;gaa_ts=685d8562&amp;gaa_sig=3-LfR_GHU3tLPG-o-YsVjgoRNU1-opiK9zrnQzURPOZIBNcm7OIKeIV5kTdTHBKbOeKnRJ-BbcIcuJq-0ipu3Q%3D%3D">articles</a> <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/11/opinion/catastrophic-wildfires-left-la-in-ashes-due-to-californias-failing-liberal-leadership/">pointing</a> to California’s failed leadership.
Consider the overall economic situation. California went from a state budget surplus of <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/after-100-billion-surplus-california-now-faces-73-billion-budget-deficit">$100b to a deficit of $73b</a> in just three years. This was driven in part from its decision in February of 2020 to escalate spending significantly while it was <a href="https://www.ppic.org/publication/whats-behind-californias-recent-population-decline-and-why-it-matters/">losing jobs</a>, and for the first time since receiving statehood in 1850, population. Between 2010 and 2023, the state saw 9.3 million people leave while only 6.7 million arrived — with a disproportionate number of the “leavers” in the high-income, high-tax-paying category.
California had the distinction of being rated as the very worst state in which to do business by <a href="https://chiefexecutive.net/california-is-the-worst-state-for-business-2014/">Chief Executive</a> magazine — for ten years in a row. Others were more positive with The <a href="https://sbecouncil.org/2019/05/06/new-report-sbe-council-ranks-50-states-according-to-public-policy-and-tax-climates-for-small-business/">Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council</a> seeing them as only the second worst state, and the <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/best-worse-states-entrepreneurs">Cato Institute</a> placing them at 48th out of 50 for entrepreneurs.
<a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/reports/worsttobest/">The California Policy Center</a> concludes:
<blockquote>“For anyone operating a business in California – small, medium or large – the experiences of the last twenty years have been challenging, and it gets worse every year. California’s regulatory environment, its high taxes and exorbitant fees, and the overall cost of doing business are the toughest in the nation. Many businesses have voted with their feet, moving their operations to more welcoming business environments.” </blockquote>
According to WalletHub.com’s report “<a href="https://wallethub.com/edu/best-places-to-retire/6165">Best &amp; Worst Places to Retire (2025)</a>,” which examined 182 cities across the U.S., four out five of the worst cities in which to retire are in California.
The story is equally daunting in a host of other arenas for the state — education, illegal immigration, water, violent crime, theft, housing, insurance, energy, environment, assorted taxes and fees, cost of living, state employee pensions, healthcare, and more. <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/%23editorial">ConsumerAffairs</a>, a consumer news and advocacy organization, compared all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. across five categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. California ranked as the single least desirable state to move to. Their conclusion might have been influenced by seeing that, compared to all other 49 states in the nation, California has the:
<ul>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-280.html">poverty rate</a></li>
<li>Highest top marginal <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates/">state income tax rate</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.redfin.com/blog/most-expensive-states-to-buy-a-house/">median home price</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-gas-tax-rates-2024/">gasoline tax</a></li>
<li>Highest number of federal <a href="https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/welfare-recipients-by-state">welfare recipients</a></li>
<li>Highest amount of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-states-blame-most-nearly-400-million-unemployment-fraud">unemployment benefit fraud</a></li>
<li>Highest number of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/">illegal immigrants</a></li>
<li>Highest percentage of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/map-states-most-high-school-dropouts-1872310">high school dropouts</a></li>
<li>Highest rates of <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/human-trafficking-statistics-by-state">human trafficking</a></li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://247wallst.com/special-report/2024/02/13/this-is-the-state-with-the-most-homeless-people-every-state-ranked/">homeless population</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/pension/comparative_view/table/">state pension shortfall</a></li>
<li>Highest level of <a href="https://www.consumeraffairs.com/movers/states-people-are-moving-to-and-from.html">net exodus</a> from the state</li>
<li>Highest <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/630090/states-with-the-average-electricity-price-for-the-residential-sector-in-the-us/">cost for kilowatt hours</a> in the continental U.S.</li>
</ul>
While many folks have wryly referred to California as, “the most expensive weather in the world,” an increasing number of people are rethinking that cost — especially when the weather itself is now regularly accompanied by wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes.
The <a href="https://hgbr.org/californias-economic-challenges-a-growing-exodus-and-policy-concerns/">Hampton Global Business Review</a> concludes, “The allure of California’s beaches and innovation hubs might not be enough to counteract the growing disenchantment among its residents and business leaders.”
While all of this is more than sobering, contrary to the popular narrative, the untenable situation in which the state now finds itself cannot be blamed solely or even largely on the handful of people who have occupied the top leadership roles or even the few thousand in mid-tier management/political roles for the state. To be sure, many of those people have largely been far worse than feckless; they have been actively counterproductive — perhaps even maleficent. But blaming leadership is like blaming guns for shooting homicides. They could not have performed this disservice without the active support of the California voters.
Time and time again, California voters continue to check the box for more of the same people who continue to inflict damage on them for decades now. But more importantly, they knowingly do so. No objective observer can credibly argue that Californians have been fooled or misled by their leaders or the outrageous decisions they have made, or failed to make.
The great scholar, author, and life-long California resident Dr. Victor Davis Hanson has for years <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/28121811-the-decline-and-fall-of-california">detailed</a> the disastrous results of many of these decisions — from eliminating fire-preventing forest management, to not only failing to build appropriate dams but blowing up existing dams and eliminating reservoirs, to promoting unchecked and mass illegal immigration.
There was likely no more clarifying moment of truth on this point than when Governor Gavin Newsom faced a recall. His record was damning. There was the bungled and hypocritical mismanagement of the COVID virus response — complete with vaccine shortages, maskless French Laundry dinners with friends, and arbitrary business closure guidelines, a budget deficit that was more than double his own projection, and most importantly, the ignoring or exacerbation of most of the long list of the aforementioned maladies destroying the state.
Not only did the recall effort fail miserably, with Newsom receiving a convincing approval mandate of 62% of the vote, but he was then solidly re-elected in 2022 with nearly that same margin. California voters, no doubt painfully aware of all of these issues essentially said, “Yes, yes, yes! Give us more of this!”
But suppose for just a moment that Newsom had been recalled, that perhaps he had skewered one of the sacred cows big enough to motivate his ouster. Perhaps he drove a diesel car, or contended that there is something wrong about allowing a 250lb biological male athlete to compete with women, or suggested that maybe the unpunished shoplifting limit should be reduced from $950 to say $500, or publicly stated that illegal immigrants are not entitled to the same rights as U.S. citizens. Who would voters have suggested take his place? It almost certainly would have been another entity not dissimilar to Newsom in any significant way.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that so many logically thinking, hard-working, patriotic Americans are leaving California if they can. With each passing year, the state is left with an increasingly left-leaning voter base — and they like it that way.  Thus, it is folly to believe that California’s ills can be solved as simply as replacing a few, key incompetent leaders. California’s failed leadership is not nearly as problematic as its failed follower-ship. And that is a far harder nut to crack.
Brian Wilson made a career writing songs about the abundant fun, fun, fun available in the Golden State. Were he with us today, begrudgingly or not, he would have to admit that clearly, daddy took the T-Bird away.
* * *
Greg Salsbury, Ph.D. is former president of Western Colorado University and Board of Advisor member for <a href="https://starrs.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STARRS.US</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Newsom best of

Best Of 2025: California Had Fun, Fun, Fun — Until Voters Took The T-Bird Away

Business

California

Gavin Newsom

Immigration

Small Businesses

Taxes

Delayed <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm">reports</a> reveal that while the U.S. economy picked up 64,000 jobs in November, it saw a decline of 105,000 in October following the Trump administration’s cutbacks to federal staff.
A drop of 162,000 federal employees fueled October’s overall job losses, with many resigning on September 30 under mounting pressure from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project to reduce the federal payroll. The Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), informally known as the “Fork in the Road” and part of the DOGE initiative, gave federal employees the option to resign early with continued pay and benefits through the end of September if they accepted the offer by a set deadline.
Historically, six-figure drops in federal employment have occurred during wartime and in the years following a decennial census. The reductions contributed to a rising unemployment rate, which reached its highest level since 2021 at 4.6%.
The job creation numbers were delayed due to the 43-day government shutdown.
In November, private payrolls expanded by 69,000, building on October’s increase of 52,000 jobs. Gains were recorded in healthcare, construction, and retail, while manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, and transportation and warehousing experienced declines. 
“I think that from the private sector point of view…it’s a solid upward trajectory,” said National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. “The President’s private sector job creation since he took office is about 700,000 jobs.” 
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The Department of Labor underscored this point.
“Under the Biden administration, most job growth came from government jobs and foreign labor,” its official X account posted on Tuesday. “Now, with (President Trump) at the helm, every single job created has been in the PRIVATE SECTOR for NATIVE-BORN AMERICANS.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Under the Biden administration, most job growth came from government jobs and foreign labor.
Now, with <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> at the helm, every single job created has been in the PRIVATE SECTOR for NATIVE-BORN AMERICANS 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/ylLCfxmcza">pic.twitter.com/ylLCfxmcza</a>
— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) <a href="https://twitter.com/USDOL/status/2000965316428386615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Although the newly released figures carry some qualifications, the report will shape how investors assess next year’s interest-rate trajectory. The Federal Reserve cut rates for a third consecutive meeting last week to bolster what Chair Jerome Powell described as a “gradually cooling” job market facing “significant” risks of further weakening.
Manhattan Institute Fellow Allison Schraeger <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/12/16/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-the-squawk-box-jobs-panel.html">says</a> this month’s job reports could lead to a future Federal Reserve rate cut. “If you are looking for an excuse to cut further, you could probably say the labor market is weakening and I’m going to do something about it.”

Jobs report

Federal Workforce Shrinks By 162,000 As Unemployment Spikes To Four-Year High

Tyson Foods will close a major beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, with about 3,200 employees in January after U.S. cattle supplies dropped to their lowest level in nearly 75 years, the meatpacker said on Friday.
The closure in the heart of cattle-feeding country signaled that supplies will remain tight, forcing meatpackers to pay steep prices for cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers.
Beef prices have set records due to low supplies and strong demand, raising costs for consumers. President Donald Trump said last month that he was working to bring down prices.
Tyson said it will also reduce operations at a beef plant in Amarillo, Texas, to a single, full-capacity shift, affecting about 1,700 workers.
&#8220;Tyson Foods recognizes the impact these decisions have on team members and the communities where we operate,&#8221; the company said in a statement.
Tyson said the changes were expected around January 20 and that it will increase production at other facilities to meet customer demand.
Beef prices soared this year as cattle supplies dwindled and meatpackers increasingly competed for limited supplies of livestock.
Ranchers slashed their herds after a years-long drought burned up pasture lands and hiked feeding costs. Some have slowly started to rebuild their herds, though it takes at least two years to raise full-grown cattle.
Tyson&#8217;s beef business suffered adjusted losses of $426 million in the 12 months ended on September 27 and $291 million over the previous year. The meatpacker projected the unit will lose $400 million to $600 million in the 2026 fiscal year.
&#8220;We all expected a plant to be closed at some point in 2026,&#8221; said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for Allendale. &#8220;I&#8217;m a little surprised they&#8217;re doing it preemptively.&#8221;
Losses in Tyson&#8217;s beef business were a turnaround from the fat profits it and other processors reaped during the COVID-19 pandemic, when meat prices soared as infections among plant workers slowed output.
The Lexington plant can process roughly 5,000 cattle per day, or about 5% of total U.S. slaughtering, but it has already been operating below capacity, said Matt Wiegand, commodity broker for FuturesOne in Nebraska. Its closure will shock the city of about 10,000 residents and hurt local feedyards that fatten cattle, he said.
&#8220;Tyson&#8217;s announcement will have a devastating impact,&#8221; said U.S. Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska. &#8220;It&#8217;s no secret that just a few years ago, packers like Tyson were making windfall profits while the rest of the industry was continuously in the red.&#8221;
In Amarillo, Tyson&#8217;s plant can slaughter roughly 6,000 cattle per day, according to industry estimates.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Trump has sought to boost beef imports from countries such as Argentina to ease prices for U.S. consumers, angering American ranchers. On Thursday, he removed 40% tariffs he had imposed this summer on Brazilian food products that slowed imports of beef used to make hamburger meat.
Trump has also accused meatpacking companies of driving up U.S. beef prices through manipulation and collusion, and ordered the Justice Department to investigate.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Nia Williams and Bill Berkrot)

Beef

Tyson Foods To Close Major U.S. Beef Plant As Cattle Supplies Dwindle

Food

General

U.S.

A year apart, President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden both touted September job growth — but the source of that growth couldn’t be more different. Under Trump, the federal workforce shrank, while under Biden, it expanded.
Thursday’s jobs report showed an overall increase of <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf">119,000 jobs</a>, with the bulk coming from the private sector.
“The job growth was driven almost entirely by private-sector job gains,” stated the White House in a press release. Health care and construction industries led the way — adding 43,000 and 19,000 jobs, respectively. And while the private sector grew, the public sector shrank.
“Federal government employment continued to decline in September and is down 97,000 since reaching a peak in January,” the report showed. That figure may even understate the true contraction, as workers on severance are still counted as employed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the other hand, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_10042024.pdf#:~:text=Household%20Survey%20Data%20Both%20the%20unemployment%20rate%2C,number%20of%20unemployed%20people%20was%206.3%20million.">Biden’s September 2024 report</a> told a different story. “Employment in government continued its upward trend in September,” the report stated. Under Biden, government jobs averaged a monthly gain of 45,000.
When Trump took office, federal jobs were at a peak. He implemented a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-extends-the-hiring-freeze/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">federal hiring freeze</a> initially scheduled to end July 15, which was later extended indefinitely. Once the freeze expires, federal agencies can hire no more than one employee for every four employees who depart from federal service. The freeze makes exceptions for jobs related to immigration, law enforcement, and public safety. Trump framed the reduction as a correction of the previous administration&#8217;s growth. The hiring freeze fact sheet explains, “In the last two years of the Biden administration, the government was directly responsible for the creation of more than 1 in every 4 jobs.”
Campaigning on eliminating waste, the Trump administration says the freeze is necessary to address the “billions of dollars wasted each year on duplicative programs and frivolous expenditures that fail to align with American values or address the needs of the American people.”
Not stopping at limiting new hires, the Office of Personnel Management estimates that by the end of the year, more than 300,000 federal employees will have left or lost their jobs. The Trump administration says it hopes many of those workers transition to private-sector positions.
The strength of private-sector job growth complicates the Federal Reserve’s path. CNBC’s Steve Liesman said the report “bolsters the case of the hawks on the FOMC who have said they do not see serious deterioration in the labor market … a robust report.”
According to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, without a weakening labor market, the case for a December rate cut becomes much harder.
At November’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell described a difficult balance: a tight labor market alongside higher-than-desired inflation. Ultimately, the Fed decided on a rate cut to avoid further disruption to employment.
“We’re in a difficult situation,” Powell said at the National Association for Business Economics. “If we move too quickly, then we may leave the inflation job unfinished. If we move too slowly, there may be painful losses in the employment market.”
Trump Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/white-houses-hassett-says-government-shutdown-impact-means-fed-should-cut-rates-in-december-205031021.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIfT9OGeVAKKbHJR4Tc3o4i4IUGV_jwsWj6OEQ8pCpV9PPLtJmCmTCXD4cqtQ1RwqCeiHtlpYZfcCj9KieR8wHDmrBZ3JmV40xfO9AUcSvmmtUin-czVIwgJGFLU1WUxtldZKbbACfYT06DHFrn6jaTYSiXXdyPTtPvvGasDDKHL">says</a> he expects the government shutdown to knock 1.5% off of fourth quarter GDP, making now “a very bad time” to pause rate cuts despite a strengthening labor market.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden

One Year, Two Jobs Reports: How Trump And Biden Drove Job Growth In Very Different Ways

Joe Biden

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