'Ice cold': US job market crashes to lowest level since Covid lockdowns

New data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Tuesday continued to show weakness in the American jobs market.

The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) shows that the number of new hires in February decreased to 4.8 million, which was roughly 400,000 fewer hires than were recorded in February 2025.

The report also shows that the US hiring rate in February fell to just 3.1%, which is the lowest rate since April 2020, when the economy was shut down due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The good news in the report is that the number of quits and layoffs remained relatively steady, meaning that people who already have jobs are retaining them at a healthy clip.

But Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that these bad hiring numbers came before President Donald Trump launched an illegal war with Iran, which has since destabilized global energy markets and raised prices for oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel.

“This is a hiring recession,” Long wrote in a social media post. “And Americans are feeling it. There were notable hiring pullbacks in February in hospitality and construction. Bottom line: The job market was already frozen before the war in Iran began. It’s worrying that a ‘no hire, no fire’ situation could turn into a ‘no hire, start to fire’ job market quickly if there isn’t a resolution soon.”

Long’s analysis was echoed by Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at hiring site Indeed, who wrote in a research note flagged by Axios that hiring in the US “was stuck in neutral going into this [Iran] conflict,” and “getting it into gear just got harder” thanks to the war.

Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, noted that hiring rates in the US hit 3.1% or lower the last two times the country was in a severe recession.

“3.1% is not only comparable to the Covid low point—it’s also comparable to late 2009 and early 2010, when the unemployment rate was around 10%,” Berger explained. “Hiring was ice cold in February.”

Scott Lincicome, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who has been a harsh critic of Trump’s tariffs, found that the February JOLTS report wiped out an unexpected January increase in manufacturing job openings that the president’s allies attributed to his trade policies.

“Alas, the perils of cherry-picking,” Lincicome commented.

The new data on hiring in the US job market comes weeks after a BLS report estimated that the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. On the whole, the American economy has posted a net loss of jobs since Trump announced his “liberation day” global tariffs in April 2025.

Tiger Woods announced on Tuesday that he is stepping away from golf after he was arrested for a suspected DUI following a rollover crash in his hometown of Jupiter, Florida, earlier this month.

Woods was arrested for a misdemeanor DUI after he refused to take a urinalysis test after he was involved in a single-car accident where the vehicle Woods was driving rolled over. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday.

"I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today," Woods wrote in a statement posted on X. "I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well being and work toward lasting recovery.

"I'm committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally," he added. "I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time."

CNN's Jake Tapper revealed on Tuesday that Republicans have privately admitted to him that their party has a problem electing female candidates.

During a panel discussion on "The Lead," Tapper played a couple of clips from a recent CNN interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in which she argued that a female president will be elected, though maybe not in her lifetime. Melanie Mason, the California bureau chief for Politico, argued that the prospect of electing a female president was one reason some donors stayed away from Democrats during the 2024 election.

Tapper revealed that some of his private conversations with Republicans have reflected similar anxieties.

"I've had Republicans say to me confidentially ... that their party has a real problem with electing women," Tapper said. "That's gotten better, but not much better. Most of the women in the House and Senate are Democrats."

Tapper's comments happened at a time when some members of the Republican Party have also expressed concerns about the upcoming 2026 midterm election. Democrats have outperformed Republicans in nearly 30 state races since Trump took office in January 2025, leading some experts to speculate that Republicans could be facing a wipeout in the upcoming election.

A Utah law firm said Tuesday that it plans to sue the US government for its allegedly unlawful detention and deportation of a Venezuelan immigrant who was sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador known for its torture and abuse of inmates.

“Our client is a young Venezuelan man who came into the US legally to escape threats of violence by the Venezuelan government against his family for their opposition to the Maduro regime,” said Brent Ward, an attorney at Parker & McConkie, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was kidnapped by US forces during a January invasion of his country.

Ward said that the client—identified by the pseudonym “Johnny Hernandez”—is seeking $56 million in damages and “has no criminal record either in the US or in Venezuela.”

Hernandez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and subsequently deported to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, central El Salvador, where he allegedly suffered torture and other abuse.

“The Trump administration knowingly and unlawfully locked up an innocent person for four months in a concentration camp-like prison where he suffered torture, shooting, beatings, and solitary confinement,” Ward stated. “When the US government knowingly and purposefully violates the law by detaining and deporting innocent individuals on false charges and is not held responsible, the individual rights of not just legal immigrants but all Americans are placed in jeopardy.”

“Our client suffered catastrophic injuries in CECOT from which he will never fully recover,” the lawyer said. “Failing to demand accountability now places all Americans in jeopardy in the future.”

The impending lawsuit comes as ICE proposes to literally warehouse up to 10,000 arrested immigrants in a “megacenter” in Salt Lake City, Utah. Opponents have compared the 833,000-square foot facility to a concentration camp akin to the Topaz War Relocation Center, a harsh, desolate desert prison where Japanese Americans and Japanese people living in the Western US were forcibly interned during World War II.

The case also follows last week’s filing of a lawsuit by Neiyerver Adrián León Rengel, one of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT. Like Hernandez, León Rengel—who is seeking $1.3 million in damages—was in the US legally when he was arrested by federal immigration authorities.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently said on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation of Salvadorans, Venezuelans, and others that, of the 9,000 Salvadorans expelled from the US since the beginning of last year, “only 10.5% had a conviction in the United States for a violent or potentially violent crime.”

The Salvadoran investigative journalism outlet El Faro—which, along with its staff, has been the target of sweeping government persecution—last year published a report on CECOT, citing one former prisoner who said that inmates are “committing suicide out of desperation.”

At least one deported Salvadoran—longtime Maryland resident Kilmar Ábrego García—was wrongfully expelled due to what the Trump administration called an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to CECOT under a multimillion-dollar agreement between the Trump administration and the government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

While Trump claimed—often without evidence—that the Venezuelan deportees were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, only about 3% of them had violent criminal convictions in the United States, and Department of Homeland Security records show that the Trump administration knew it.

In July 2025, El Salvador released 252 Venezuelans imprisoned at CECOT and sent them to Venezuela in a prisoner swap that saw Maduro’s government free 10 US citizens and permanent residents whom it jailed. Many of the repatriated Venezuelans said they suffered torture, sexual assault, severe beatings, and other abuse at CECOT.

Last December, Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration broke the law by deporting the Venezuelans without due process.