In August, the US economy saw an increase of 22,000 jobs, but the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, according to the latest employment report. This announcement marks the first one since President Trump dismissed the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Economists had predicted that around 75,000 jobs would be added, with a slight uptick in the unemployment rate from 4.2% in July to 4.3%.
This report arrives as Trump is advocating for significant reforms at the BLS.
Last month, Trump fired former BLS director Erica Mantelfer, who had worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations. This decision came after the July employment figure revealed only 72,000 new jobs created, alongside a serious downward revision of earlier numbers.
Total job additions from May to July were adjusted down to just 106,000, which is far below what many economists believe is necessary to stabilize unemployment.
The president accused Mantelfer of manipulating employment statistics to favor Democrats, especially leading up to the 2024 elections. However, Trump did not provide any evidence for this claim; the BLS had already presented a significant downward revision of job numbers months prior to the election.
In response, economists from various political backgrounds, as well as seasoned professionals from the BLS, criticized Trump’s actions and defended the integrity of the statistical agency. They pointed out that the complexity of job data makes manipulation nearly impossible.
On Thursday, Trump remained skeptical about BLS data, suggesting that the “real” job numbers would emerge next year.
At a dinner with tech industry leaders, he stated, “They’ll come out tomorrow, and the real number I’m talking about will be whatever it is, but it’ll be in the next year.”
The BLS explained that the July downward revision was largely due to delayed employment reports within the highly seasonal public education sector. The agency noted a decline in response rates to surveys, a trend attributed to economic disruptions from the pandemic, which have also affected statistical agencies worldwide.
Other private labor market indicators have also suggested a slowdown in the past few months, with fewer job additions and record-high rates of employees retaining their positions.
In August, layoffs surged nearly 40%, with companies cutting 85,979 jobs—marking the steepest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, according to Gray & Christmas.
ADP data released on Thursday indicated that private sector job growth was minimal, with only 54,000 positions added in August, reflecting a slowing labor market.
Job openings also dipped to 7.18 million in July, marking the first instance since 2021 where the number of job seekers exceeded available positions.
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