Federal And State Economy Shed Tens Of Thousands Of Jobs While Michigan’s Republican Congressmen Plan To Do Nothing About It

The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February as unemployment ticked up to 4.4 percent. Manufacturing alone shed thousands of jobs for the month, continuing a trend that has seen the sector lose roughly 100,000 positions since early 2025. The economy has now lost jobs in five of the last nine months. For Michigan, the picture is even worse: the state recorded nearly 20,000 job cuts in January alone, the second-highest total in the nation, driven by tariff uncertainty, restructuring in the auto industry, and a manufacturing sector under mounting pressure.

"I'm a small business owner, not a corporation. I don't have margins to absorb tariff costs and gas going up by nearly a dollar. I've had to cut hours, delay hiring, and I know I'm not the only one. Nearly 20,000 jobs are gone in Michigan in one month and Congressman James is still backing the same policies that are driving businesses like mine into the ground.” said Alex, a small business owner from MI-10.  “Stop supporting tax breaks for billionaires and start showing up for the small businesses that keep this district running."

Through all of this, Congressmen John James, Bill Huizenga and Tom Barrett have failed to address the economic pain their constituents are feeling. All three voted for the Republican Tax Law that handed massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy while enacting the largest cuts to SNAP in history and slashing Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars. All supported tariffs, which the Supreme Court has since ruled were illegal, that drove up the cost of groceries and everyday goods for Michigan families. And now, all three have failed to take action to prevent gas prices from going through the roof and threatening to raise the cost of groceries and straining families further.

Michigan families can’t afford representatives who vote to raise their costs, gut the programs they fall back on when times get hard, and then go silent when the jobs disappear. Congressmen James, Huizenga, and Barrett need to stop making things worse for Michigan workers and start fighting for the families they were elected to represent.