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It’s another Friday Jobs Day, and women are holding strong! Unemployment rates in September remained stable or decreased for women overall (3.7 percent in August vs. 3.6 percent in September), Black women (5.5 percent vs 5.3 percent), Latinas (5.0 percent vs. 4.8 percent), Asian women (3.9 steady) and disabled women (9.0 percent vs. 7.5 percent).

Women made up 55 percent of this month’s job gains, continuing our slow march back to holding half of all jobs, a milestone last attained in early 2020. But labor force participation did tick down last month for all five groups of women, meaning some women have stopped looking for a job.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re doing a Jobs Day deep dive on the state of the economy for Latinas. The good news? Latinas are currently participating in the labor force at historically high rates, surpassing their pre-pandemic levels. In fact for the past two months, Latinas registered their highest labor force participation rates since the start of data collection.

While the unemployment rate for Latinas isn’t 20+ percent like in April 2020, it’s been creeping up from the late-2022 lows and is now consistently above the pre-pandemic trend – and much higher than white men’s. This means more Latinas are looking for work but not always finding it, resulting in a higher unemployment rate. Latinas’ employment population ratio has also reached historic highs: 59.4 percent of Latinas 20 and older – a larger share than ever before – are in the labor market. So while it’s good news Latinas are joining the labor market, we still need to do more to make sure they are able to find the jobs they want.

But when Latinas do find jobs, they’re woefully undervalued and underpaid. Yesterday was Latina Equal Pay Day, a sober day marking the fact that trabajadoras overall were paid only 51 cents for every dollar paid to white men in 2023. This was 1 cent worse than 2022.

The Latina wage gap narrowed by 5 cents in the past decade, from $0.46 to $0.51. Over that same time however, our economy still lagged behind peer countries in terms of the share of women in the labor force – and that’s cost our economy nearly $7 trillion.

And these measures of economic productivity do not take into account the valuable care work Latinas provide for family and loved ones. National Partnership research has estimated that Latinas provide $133 billion worth of unpaid care annually. Care provided through love is a beautiful thing, but comprehensive care policies would be even more beautiful. Latinas need policy supports for child care, paid leave, and elder care in order to more fully participate in the economy and thrive financially.

Finally, we can’t forget about the Federal Reserve’s big 0.5 percentage point interest rate cut! Now more women, and women of color, can access affordable loans for homes, cars, and businesses. In the medium to long-term, this should also lead to fewer layoffs and more job creation, helping our economy expand and individuals thrive. But industries like construction, where women are underrepresented, as most likely to immediately benefit from the rate cut. We’re glad the Fed recognized the need to lower interest rates and will continue to do so as needed.

Read our full analysis of today’s Jobs Report on Twitter.

Click to open the full tweet thread in a new window.