ALFREDO ORTIZ: American Economy Much Stronger Than Jobs Report Suggests

Friday’s jobs report showed 92,000 positions were lost in February, sending the stock market falling. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, and the labor force participation rate fell to 62.0%.

However, February job loss is due to several factors that don’t reflect the strength of the underlying small-business economy. Mainly, the worst winter storm since 1996 paralyzed the Northeast, trapping people in their homes, shutting down job sites, and closing retail doors. The storm dropped two feet of snow across New England, resulting in power outages affecting 600,000 people and a state of emergency throughout the region.

Generally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights such large external events affecting job creation in a special section of the jobs report. But not this time. Any analysis of the February jobs report needs to include this angle.

However, BLS did note another external factor responsible for job losses: widespread strike activity in the healthcare sector. This sector is experiencing significant labor unrest, including a major February strike of more than 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and support staff in California and Hawaii.

For years, healthcare jobs have been the biggest driver of labor market growth. Some of this job creation is productive, driven by medical advancements and the needs of our aging population. But much of it is what I call quasi-governmental — positions that only exist because of trillions of dollars in annual government spending. Therefore, a decline in healthcare jobs is overdue and not necessarily a bad thing.

President Donald Trump also continued his streak in February of reducing the bloated federal workforce, freeing up resources for the private economy. Since Trump took office, he has cut