America’s job market flashes yet another warning sign about the economy
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
www.cnn.com /business/live-news/us-jobs-report-august-2025
America’s job market flashes yet another warning sign about the economy
Alicia Wallace, Elisabeth Buchwald, Bryan Mena 15-19 minutes 9/5/2025
• The US economy added just 22,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2%.
• Friday’s report is the first data under a new leader at the BLS, after President Donald Trump fired the previous one for producing data that Trump baselessly claimed must be “a scam.” Just 73,000 positions were added in July and previous monthly totals were substantially revised down.
• Friday’s data was far worse than expected, with economists having forecast around 76,500 jobs added in August.
• It’s the latest snapshot of the US economy under Trump’s aggressive trade agenda, as inflation continues to tick up and there are now more unemployed people than jobs for them.
For months, economists have been warning of a cooling job market, pointing to consistently slowing job gains.
Friday’s dismal jobs report made it clear as day that the once booming labor market has all but come to an end.
“The broader labor market is cooling. Fewer job openings, softer wage growth, and longer job searches are signs of a slowdown,” Ger Doyle, regional president at ManpowerGroup, said in a note. “The hiring momentum that kicked off the year has been tempered by uncertainty.”
Jeff Schulze, head of economic and market strategy at ClearBridge Investments, said the August jobs report, which showed employers hired just 22,000 workers, “did little to quell fears of a recessionary-esque labor backdrop with job creation remaining at stall speed.”
The unemployment rate for Black workers in the United States rose again last month to 7.5%, the highest level since October 2021.
During the past two months, the unemployment rate for Black workers has risen considerably higher, jumping from 6% to 6.8% in June and then to 7.2% in July.
Demographic data in the household survey (one of two that compose the monthly jobs report) can be highly volatile because of smaller sample sizes; however, if it moves higher in August, “it will mean we have a serious deterioration in the labor market situation for Black workers in just a half year,” said Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
A rise in the Black unemployment rate is often considered the “canary in the coal mine,” foretelling a broader-scale job market slowdown.
Friday’s jobs report marked the end of what was the second longest-ever period of employment expansion for the US on record.
In addition to the lower-than-expected 22,000 preliminary net payroll gain for August, the report included a downward revision to June, bringing that month’s already weak tally from a 14,000 net gain to a 13,000 net loss.
It’s the first negative employment month since December 2020, and it ends the second-longest period of employment expansion on record for the United States, BLS data shows.
Following the latest revisions, the US added jobs for 52 consecutive months, putting this recent period a far second to the post-Great Recession expansion from late-2010 to early 2020, when the US added jobs for 113 months in a row.
Friday’s unemployment data showed that just 22,000 jobs were added in August and the previous monthly total for June was again revised downwards.
Job growth slowed to a crawl in August, and the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in nearly four years, indicating the US labor market is growing stagnant.
The economy added just 22,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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wait for it
Donald Trump shuts down CNN reporter: "You're fake news"
Is AP fake as well? This just hit my email...
Trump will probably say things are going so well America doesnt need any more jobs.
22,000 new jobs for a month is pretty much a disaster for Trump and his administration. Which means..... a lot of distractions coming in the next couple days. ICE is going to start their new surge in Chicago tomorrow, during Mexican Independence Day celebrations. Maybe another droning of a boat. Maybe he'll bring Musk back to the oval office with his son sitting on his shoulders. Maybe he'll unilaterally proclaim that the war in Ukraine is over .
…and whoever compiled the numbers is now on the chopping block.
Well, the rapid deployment of AI is causing a lot of white collar job losses. And the government is not trying to pad the numbers with government hires. (If the government hadn't shed 16,000 jobs then the jobs numbers would have been 38,000 jobs created. And if the government had added 10,000 jobs then the jobs numbers would have been 48,000 jobs created. Government hiring practices have been used to boost the numbers in the past.)
What's most concerning about the data is the economy is adding middleman positions while shedding productive workers. Even with better employment numbers, that trend is destroying the economy. A service economy can only provide an illusion of a healthy economy.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Democrats are laser focused on the Epstein files. So when the recession hits we can expect Democrats to sit on Obama's Great Recession thumb. If there is a recession, we'll have to depend upon Republicans to address it.
Yikes !
Who gets fired ?
Ah yes, the inevitable excuse machine gets rolled out when the Dear Leaders promises fall flat and his wildly inaccurate predictions are shown to be hollow. Now we get to watch the MAGAites duck, dodge, shimmy and sham their way out of this by blaming Biden, blaming Democrats, blaming AI, blaming anything other than the convicted criminal and prolific liar they voted for. I'd almost feel sad for them if they weren't hurting so many Americans with their incompetence and stupidity.
Its time for Trump to say we're still in the Biden economy.
When does a fact suddenly become an excuse? The big tech firms really have been reducing the size of their workforces. It's causing a stir among college students worried about post-college employment.
If you want to rag on Trump then raise questions about the loss of manufacturing jobs. It's amazing the the weak spot in the jobs report has to be pointed out with red arrows and circles. The data shows a 12k loss of manufacturing jobs.
Is it necessary to make the argument for you? Go ask ChatGPT about the significance of job losses in manufacturing under the current policies and political promises.
Or focus attention on the Epstein files. It's your call.
Well, technically we are as the last Biden budget does not end until Sept 30.
Okay, now we are hitting new levels of ridiculous excuse-making for Trump. Trump started taking credit for good things before he was even elected:
Just sickening watching people dishonestly try to change reality following the Trump method.
When stating the fact is directly in defense of promises broken. If someone's best man says, "I promise, I'll keep the ring safe until the ceremony tomorrow" and then the next day states the fact that "My dog ate it and now we'll have to wait for it to poop out" doesn't make it any less of an excuse just because it's a fact.
Trump promised:
So far none of those things have happened and the excuse seems to be, what? AI? Biden? Democrats?
And he was wrong. Just as the folks ignoring the fact "technically we are as the last Biden budget does not end until Sept 30" are wrong.
No defending Trump, just stating inconvenient facts for some
Of course you totally missed the point that the Biden budget was used as an excuse for anything wrong while Trump takes credit for anything right.
Of course you spin this to defend Trump.
More Trump bullshit parroted by his supporters:
Not only that, claiming it's Bidens budget completely ignores the damage the tariffs have done to the economy that Biden had nothing to do with.
Blaming Biden's budget is over-the-top ridiculous; it shows how desperate Trump supporters are growing to keep propping up this incompetent buffoon.
The better move is to be objective, honest, and patriotic, and start criticizing Trump for all the harm he is doing to this nation.
But, no, Trump supporters are stubbornly sticking to trying to defend their demagogue because admitting they were wrong is unacceptable. Even when it is blatantly obvious that Trump is incompetent, unfit, and dangerous for this nation.
Who is defending promises broken? I had to tell you that the weak spot in the jobs report was the loss of manufacturing jobs. I had to draw the red arrows and circles to bring that to your attention. You chose the Orange Man Bad trope without addressing the jobs report.
I don't know if Trump has broken a promise but it's certainly not a promise that's been fulfilled. Trump does have 3+ years to keep the promise; that too is a fact.
Trump has been in office less than 9 months. Trump is President and not the God you want him to be. Obviously Trump is not a dictator or the job numbers wouldn't be so bad. As a dictator Trump could conscript 500,000+ and create more jobs than any President in history. So, there aren't any facts to support the claim of dictator.
Of course you are wrong again because I am well aware of what Trump is doing. Of course you totally miss that every president has done that since we have been a country.
Exactly what of "Just as the folks ignoring the fact " technically we are as the last Biden budget does not end until Sept 30" are wrong." is wrong. I stated a fact, no spin about anything. Of course a blind Trump hater would not see that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same ole shit
More bullshit excuse-making for Trump.
Nobody ignored that fact. Pay attention. The point is that the budget is not the reason for bad economic news. It is a bullshit excuse ... one which you continue to try to perpetuate with feeble attempts of sophistry.
“The point is that the budget is not the reason for bad economic news.”
And the budget means nothing as some funds lawfully approved and allocated have been indiscriminately pulled back…resulting in agencies scrambling to adjust, the inevitable (and justifiable) law suits, and a deleterious sense of confusion as to what would previously have been unimaginable, comes next.
An inefficient, compulsive, and inflammatory way to govern.
Glass houses. Stones. Etc.
Yeah yeah yeah, same ole tired platitude
Pay attention. Your comment was :
"Trump started taking credit for good things before he was even elected:"
My response was:
"Of course you totally miss that every president has done that since we have been a country."
It is a bullshit excuse ... one which you continue to try to perpetuate with feeble attempts of sophistry.
New word, same tired platitude
Fair enough. Democrats have often made excuses for their candidates and Presidents not delivering on their campaign promises. Does that make it right when Republicans do it? And on such scale? I mean, there has to be a difference between promising you'll reduce drug prices by 60% "across the board" as Biden promised only to deliver roughly a 38% cut, versus promising 1500% cuts to prescription prices and so far his "Most-favored Nation" initiative has delivered exactly 0% in cuts.
It really is bizarre how Trump supporters demand perfection from Democrats and would scream about a democrat promising 60% but only delivering 38% while their own candidate promises 1500% (which, for those math literate which can't just be assumed among Trumps base, is mathematically impossible) and delivers 0% and that's fine with them, not a peep out of Trumps base in complaint.
No PotUS in recent history has come even remotely close to the scale and frequency of Trump's credit-taking / excuse-making / deflection.
You continue to defend the extreme instead of being critical of a terrible PotUS.
I'm not a fan, no matter who does it.
Look, I think it's grasping at straws to pretend one is more or less egregious than the other. Is it worse to tell 10,000 different lies or the same lie 10,000 times? The more we try to rationalize away the stupidity or dishonesty or malfeasance or ineptitude of one side, the more we enable other people to do so about the other.
Glass houses. Stones. Etc.
*sigh* At this point we're talking about a house made of thousand year old annealed glass.
Democrats generally, and liberals specifically have a well earned reputation for being utterly terrible at even basic math. I would humbly remind you that AOC is in congress, Bernie has been re-elected for decades, and the Affordable Care Act is a thing they still defend. They are apex predators in the jungle of bad math.
Yes, Trump supporters defend their guy, and sometimes it's stupid. That was exactly true of Clinton supporters, Obama supporters, and Biden supporters. Sorry to break this to you, but your team's shit stinks just as much as everybody else's.
So it is not a problem until someone does it more than others (supposedly)? Do you not realize the lack of objectivity? Some folks just say it is not desirable when anyone does it.
You keep claiming that and I keep saying there is a difference between defending Trump and not buy into the Trump hysteria as your first sentence is an example. I fail to understand why that fact escapes you but that is your problem, not mine.
You need me to explain why extreme bad behavior is far worse than occasional bad behavior?
If you opine in response to Trump criticism, your post almost always takes the form of making excuses/deflection. That is defending Trump.
I think the same lie 10,000 times is worse because it's an attempt to turn a lie into the truth. Someone who tells 10,000 lies just proves themselves a liar.
It's not rationalizing away the stupidity, it is making a conscious informed decision picking the lesser of two evils.
Again, I do not see the two parties or their candidates equally. I don't believe the two are even on the same playing field when it comes to egregious behavior. I feel Republicans have long left the planes of reality in their pursuit of their own fantasy superiority and their chosen candidates prove that. How can Democrats really compare to things like claims of Jewish space lasers, attempted insurrections, voting for a 34 time convicted felon, admitted sexual predator and accused rapist. It just doesn't compute. You say "glass houses" like both sides are the same. I think that view is myopic at best or most likely intentionally obtuse.
If Trump fans are cheering him when he claims he will cut drug prices by 1500%, in my opinion it is woefully inaccurate to claim some sort of equivalence coming from democrats.
Yeah no, that's complete bullshit unless you can back it up with some claim from Democrats that is as egregious as Trump claiming he can reduce drug prices by 1500%.
AOC doesn't seem to have any problem with math, neither does Bernie and the ACA should be defended, it's been one of the best things that has happened to America in the last half century.
You make claims but give zero examples of any actual bad math. Just throwing out programs you may not like or the fact that some programs cost more to provide benefits than originally estimated is nowhere near Trump's complete butchering of basic mathematical concepts.
Sometimes? I think that is very generous.
You haven't given even a single example of anything that comes anywhere close to the mathematical ineptitude of Donald Trump. You seem to be saying that both sides fudge just as much, that their "fudge factors" are essentially the same. I disagree.
Here is a visual representation between Democrat politicians' gap between the truth, or "fudge factor", and Donald Trump's gap between the truth...
Democrats...
Donald Trump...
Sure, someone could argue, as you're apparently doing, that both of those are flowing water dividing two sides. I'm just curious as to why you feel it's necessary to try and claim they're the same when by nearly every measure, they could not be further apart. Or do you truly believe Donald Trump is just like any other politician that America has had since our founding?
Well... that's Bernie Sanders. Personally, I'm not sure which one is worse.
That's fair, provided you are evaluating that on a situation by situation basis. If one side is always the lesser evil, you're not thinking for yourself.
It ebbs and flows. Generally, the party in power has the greater ability to commit egregious acts, and they do.
You act like Democrats have not done all of those things. Hank Johnson thought Guam was going to capsize. Liberals in Seattle actually declared independence in 2020. You don't remember Marion Barry? How are we giving Bill Clinton a free pass on his multiple rape accusations and admitted sexual harassment of a WH intern?
Glass. House.
You obviously haven't seen Bernie try to sell Medicare for all.
Joe Biden claiming he inherited a 9% inflation rate? How about "we can end world hunger with 2% of Elon's money"? Or "Bloomberg's campaign budget could have given every American $1million? AOC "you just pay for it"? Those errors range from hundreds of millions of dollars to hundreds of billions of dollars.
Then we get into tribal stupidity like Covid vaccine mandates which were utterly indefensible mathematically.
Sorry, but the track record is appalling.
You're making my point for me. Thanks.
Bernie has been telling the same mathematically indefensible lie for 40 years. The ACA is an actuarial fairy tale, written as though math isn't real.
I'm sure you do. Glass houses. Stones. Etc.
On this very post you're still pretending that Democrats don't do and say ridiculously awful and stupid stuff, despite decades of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Of course I have. You just don't recognize how bad the several examples are.... which kinda proves the point.
Employers likely holding back on hiring waiting to see if the Fed reduces interest rates
How does increasing unemployment encourage the Fed to lower interest rates?
Maybe its more like a concerted effort to force Trump to backtrack on tariffs. Passive investors really would wreck the economy for the next decade to boost this quarter's profits.
The Fed has a dual mandate to support full employment and stable prices. When unemployment rises, they have several levers they can use to stimulate the economy and increase hiring.