- Jul 2, 2003
- 152,822
- 19,970
- Country
- United States
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- Female
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- Baptist
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- Married
- Politics
- US-Democrat
The U.S. labor market created few jobs in August and shrank earlier in the summer, a first since the pandemic, as the economy’s engine sputters under the weight of President Donald Trump’s economic policies.
The economy added 22,000 jobs in August, far fewer than expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday morning. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 percent, the highest since late 2021.
In a sign that the labor market was weaker than previously understood this summer, job data from June was revised downward, reflecting a loss of 13,000 jobs, the first time the economy has lost jobs since December 2020, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. added just 22,000 jobs in August, confirming dramatic slowdown in the labor market
The August report is the first since Trump fired a top Labor Department official over accusations of releasing inaccurate data.
www.nbcnews.com
Trump took office promising to turbocharge the U.S. economy. While it is still in solid shape by most metrics, it had begun to lose momentum at the conclusion of the Biden administration.
Instead, Trump’s push to impose tariffs on imports into the U.S. — alongside his aggressive efforts to eliminate federal spending, many of which continue to face legal challenges — have sparked a wave of uncertainty that has made it difficult for businesses to hire more people.
Those tariffs have also fueled ongoing concerns about rising prices. While inflation has dropped significantly from the highs seen following pandemic reopenings in 2022, many measures show it remains above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
