Trump again calls for Federal Reserve chair to cut US interest rates as payroll data disappoints
US President Donald Trump has redoubled his calls for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, noting that payroll processing firm ADP reported that job creation slowed in May.
“ADP number out. ‘Too Late’ Powell must now lower the rate. He is unbelievable. Europe has lowered nine times,” President Trump said in a Truth Social post.
ADP reported today that US private payrolls increased far less than expected in May, increasing by only 37,000 jobs last month after a 60,000 rise in April that was revised downward. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing 110,000 following a previously reported gain of 62,000 in April.
It represents the smallest number of employees added in a month in more than two years, however some experts question the validity of the data.
“As usual, we suggest ignoring the message from the ADP employment report, mostly because it has had a very poor track record in recent years,” said Oliver Allen, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The ADP report, jointly developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, comes ahead of a more comprehensive employment report that will be released on Friday by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That data is expected to report that private payrolls increased by 120,000 jobs in May after advancing by 167,000 in April, a Reuters survey showed. Overall nonfarm payrolls are estimated to have increased by 130,000 jobs after rising by 177,000 in April.
The unemployment rate is forecast to be unchanged at 4.2%
President Trump has hammered Powell for months in often personal attacks, with his calls for the Fed chair’s resignation weighing on US stocks and financial markets.
His repeated attacks have raised questions about the continued independence of the US central bank under the Trump administration, although the US president last month said he would not remove the Fed chair before his term ends in May 2026.