The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) first jobs report since President Donald Trump fired the head of the agency showed the U.S. labor market growing more slowly than economists expected, and actually losing jobs for the first time since the pandemic earlier in the summer.
The Friday report found that employers added just 22,000 jobs the month of August, continuing a slowdown in hiring. The unemployment rate also slightly increased to 4.3%, its highest level since 2021—though still low in historical terms.
The report also revised down previous job data for June, indicating that rather than adding 27,000 jobs that month, as the BLS previously reported, they cut 13,000.
The President fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the release of the July jobs report, which also showed fewer jobs added than expected, alleging that the agency was rigging job figures to reflect poorly on his Administration. He has instead nominated E.J. Antoni, of the Heritage Foundation, to lead the agency. “Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump said on Truth Social at the time. The President has provided no evidence to support his accusations, and economists have widely pushed back against them.
In an apparent effort to minimize the potential shaky job numbers ahead of Friday’s report, however, Trump told the press that the “real numbers” would not arrive until next year. “I think you’ll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible,” the President said on Thursday. “Right now, it’s a lot of construction numbers, but you’re going to see job numbers like our country has never seen before.”
Antoni has previously floated the idea of pausing the agency’s monthly jobs report, alleging that its methodology is flawed.
Trump promised on the campaign trail that his Administration would bring jobs back to the U.S. Economists, however, have voiced concerns about his ever-evolving tariff policy creating economic and market turmoil.
An analysis of the job market published on Thursday by consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that layoffs increased nearly 40% in the month of August, with an estimated loss of nearly 86,000 positions. Companies cited a multitude of reasons for such job cuts, including existing market and economic conditions, restructuring efforts, and reductions to the federal workforce by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Friday’s report showed that federal government jobs declined by a further 15,000 in August.
Still, some sectors appear to be resilient: The health care industry, for instance, added 31,000 jobs last month.
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