US jobs growth worse than expected in first report since Trump fired agency head, for bad jobs report

The U.S. economy added 22,000 jobs in August — worse than financial experts had expected — according to the first government report since President Donald Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer.

The August Jobs Report, published Friday, revealed that the employment market continued to cool in the same month that Trump’s global tariffs took effect.

Minutes before the release of the highly anticipated figures, the agency was hit by technical difficulties but they appeared to be quickly resolved.

The jobs data also revealed that unemployment increased to 4.3 percent, the highest level since 2021.

Experts are now looking to the Federal Reserve and considering whether Friday’s jobs report will be enough to compel the central bank to lower interest rates. Cutting rates would make it cheaper for consumers to borrow money and, therefore, make larger purchases such as mortgages or cars more affordable.

Reacting to the latest report, Trump hit out at Fed chair Jerome Powell for not reducing interest rates.

“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should have lowered rates long ago,” Trump said on Truth Social. “As usual, he’s ‘Too Late!’”

Figures also showed the economy lost jobs in June for the first time since December 2020, when the jobs market was in turmoil during the Covid-19 pandemic. Revisions showed that payrolls declined by 13,000 jobs in June, rather than rising by 14,000, as was reported last month.

The report is the first since Trump fired McEntarfer after the July Jobs Report from the non-partisan agency showed a slump in employment figures, implying a downturn in hiring and stagnant growth. An incensed Trump baselessly called those numbers “phony.”

The president downplayed the importance of the report ahead of new figures emerging Friday, at a White House dinner Thursday night with tech CEOs. Trump said the “real numbers” would be out “in a year from now.”

Jobs in manufacturing have taken a hit, according to the August report. Factories shed 12,000 jobs last month, and construction companies cut 7,000. Federal employment dropped by 15,000 last month, down 100,000 since January, which economist Gregory Daco called “the DOGE effect” in a post on X.

The healthcare sector added 31,000 jobs in August.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt parroted Trump and called on Powell to cut interest rates in a statement.

“Clearly, President Trump is implementing the most aggressive pro-growth agenda in our country’s history, but this agenda continues to be held back by Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell’s foolish refusal to admit that President Trump is right about everything,” Leavitt said. “It’s time for the Fed to finally do the right thing on behalf of the American people and cut the rates.”

Economists said the August Jobs Report gave “the clearest sign yet” of a cooling labor market.

“Fewer job openings, softer wage growth, and longer job searches are signs of a slowdown,” said Ger Doyle, regional president at ManpowerGroup. “The hiring momentum that kicked off the year has been tempered by uncertainty.”

“August’s Employment Report confirmed that the labor market has headed off a cliff-edge,” Bradley Saunders, a North America economist for Capital Economics, added in a note.

Economist Daniel Zhao warned the U.S. is “heading into turbulence without the soft landing achieved.”

McEntarfer, a Joe Biden appointee, was replaced by a deputy, William Waitrowski, on an acting basis at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump has tapped E.J. Antoni, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s chief economist, for the job. Antoni must be confirmed by the Senate before taking up the position.

However some economists have warned that U.S. jobs data might no longer be considered trustworthy if it were administered by partisans professionally invested in appeasing the president.

The U.S. job market has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 and partly because Trump’s policies, including his trade wars, have created uncertainty that leaves managers reluctant to make hiring decisions.

Trump has been pressuring Powell to lower interest rates, and sought to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook on unproven allegations of mortgage fraud.