The United States added 467,000 jobs in January, even as the omicron variant tore through homes, schools, child-care centers and workplaces across the country. Despite the surge in coronavirus cases, the economy performed well: Not only were more jobs added than expected, but the numbers suggested that average hourly earnings had increased, as did the number of people looking for work.

“America is back to work,” President Biden said in a speech at the White House on Friday. “America’s job machine is going stronger than ever.”

But not so fast, some economic experts say. According to a National Women’s Law Center analysis, the report is far less rosy when gains are separated out by gender.

Early into the third year of the pandemic, male workers regained all the jobs they had lost since February 2020. But the same could not be said of women: Since February 2020, 1.1 million women who left the labor force have yet to return.

The numbers point to long-standing structural inequities that still make it harder for women to return to work at the same rate as men, said Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at NWLC. And this will continue to affect women’s workforce participation for months, experts say, even as some aspects of American life return to “normal.”

“There’s a lot of desire to say: It’s done now. We’re back to normal. And we are seeing real progress in job growth,” Martin said. But the persistent gender disparities are “cause for concern,” she...

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