Another blow to President Trump as the latest jobs report suggests the US economy is in freefall just one month before the midterm elections
The US economy added just 29,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.2 percent.
The Labor Department’s September jobs report is yet another piece of bad news for President Donald Trump just one month before midterm elections in which the health of the economy is weighing on voters’ minds.
Hiring undershot the 84,000 forecasters had expected. Past revisions made the news look even worst, with July’s number cut to -10,000 from +21,000, and August payrolls reduced to 133,000 from 162,000.
Hiring remains far below the 166,000 monthly jobs that were the norm in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.
‘Today’s ice-cold report shows the jobs market may not be as healthy as previous data might have suggested,’ Nic Puckrin, markets expert and former Goldman Sachs analyst, told the Daily Mail.
The job market has proven solid in the face of a series of shocks – trade wars, persistent inflation, high interest rates and a conflict with Iran that has driven energy prices higher.
Friday’s jobs report is the last one that will come out before November 3 elections that will determine whether the Republicans maintain control of Congress.
The disappointing jobs numbers deepen the dilemma for the Federal Reserve, which hiked interest rates last month for the first time in nearly three years as it fights against stubbornly high inflation.
Past revisions made the news look even worst, with July’s number cut to -10,000 from +21,000, and August payrolls reduced to 133,000 from 162,000 (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
Friday’s jobs report is the last one that will come out before November 3 elections that will determine whether the Republicans maintain control of Congress(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
According to Puckrin, this is forcing the central bank to choose between two evils: Hike again, and you risk tipping the scale on unemployment at a time when Americans are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis – or hold rates steady and inflation could get out of control.
‘That means Americans must prepare for the double-whammy of higher unemployment and rising prices at the store and at the pump, right in time for the winter holidays,’ Puckrin told us.
Soaring gas prices, fewer jobs and rising rates are making US consumers much more pessimistic about the economy.
US consumer confidence dropped this month to the lowest level in more than a decade, according to an index published by the Conference Board.
More than 28 percent of respondents told the business think tank that they expect fewer jobs to be available in six months, double the 14 percent who expect more.
Online jobs site Glassdoor reports that its employee confidence index, based on how workers view prospects for their own companies, dropped last month to the lowest level in records going back to the beginning of 2016, a period that includes a global pandemic.
The report showed that average hourly earnings increased just 0.1 percent in September, putting the 12-month gain at 3 percent.
The paltry job gains came mostly from health care, which added 17,000 workers, while construction added 11,000 jobs and manufacturing added 9,000 positions.