US employers added just 22,000 jobs last month as the labour market continued to cool under uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s economic policies.
Advertisement
The Labor Department said on Friday that hiring decelerated from 79,000 in July and came in below the roughly 80,000 economists had expected for August. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 per cent, also worse than expected and the highest level since 2021, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
When the department put out a disappointing jobs report a month ago, an enraged Trump responded by firing the economist in charge of compiling the numbers and nominating a loyalist to replace her.
Talking to reporters on Thursday night at a dinner with wealthy tech executives, Trump seemed to shrug off whatever hiring numbers would come out on Friday. “The real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now,” the president said.
Factories shed 12,000 jobs in August, the fourth straight month that manufacturers have cut payrolls. Construction companies cut 7,000 jobs, and the federal government cut 15,000.
Advertisement