{"id":201536,"date":"2025-12-24T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/201536\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T12:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T12:46:18","slug":"close-to-zero-jobs-created-since-tariffs-were-introduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/201536\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Close To Zero Jobs’ Created Since Tariffs Were Introduced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leading economist Justin Wolfers issued a stark warning regarding the state of the U.S. economy on Sunday, arguing that rising unemployment<\/a>\u2014not stock market volatility\u2014is the flashing red light signaling a potential recession.<\/p>\n

Wolfers stated that since the introduction of tariffs<\/a> by the Donald Trump administration, the American economy has effectively stalled, creating \u201cclose to zero jobs.\u201d He pointed to \u201cLiberation Day\u201d\u2014the date new tariffs were implemented\u2014as a critical turning point for the labor market, in a video shared by him on X.<\/p>\n

While political discourse often focuses on trade balances, the University of Michigan professor highlighted a more immediate domestic consequence: a hiring freeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you actually look at\u2026 when the tariffs came into the present, the US economy has actually created close to zero jobs,\u201d Wolfers said.<\/p>\n

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He warned that the situation may be deteriorating faster than official reports suggest, predicting that once the next set of data is released, the economy will likely show it has shrunk.<\/p>\n

According to Wolfers, the sharp rise in unemployment is significant enough that \u201cwe really are looking at whether we\u2019re in a recession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think of your biggest financial risk: it’s not your stock portfolio, it’s losing your paycheck. That’s why unemployment is the single best measure of economic health\u2014when people can’t earn a living, everything else in the data is just background noise. <\/p>\n

And unemployment is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/DsCkxTZ7aG<\/a><\/p>\n

Wolfers urged the public to ignore the \u201cbackground noise\u201d of other economic data and focus on the single metric that impacts daily life: the ability to earn a living.<\/p>\n

In a post accompanying his analysis, he dismantled the idea that stock portfolios are the primary gauge of financial safety for most Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of your biggest financial risk: it\u2019s not your stock portfolio, it\u2019s losing your paycheck,\u201d Wolfers wrote. He argued that when people cannot earn a living, other economic indicators become irrelevant.<\/p>\n

See Also: Earn While You Scroll: The Deloitte-Ranked #1 Software Company Growing 32,481% Is Opening Its $0.50\/Share Round to Accredited Investors.<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the macroeconomic data<\/a>, Wolfers highlighted the behavioral shifts in the workplace caused by a cooling labor market.<\/p>\n

When jobs are scarce, worker leverage evaporates. Wolfers noted that employees are becoming unable to ask for pay raises or express dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard to express dissatisfaction with your current job and look elsewhere,\u201d he explained. The result is a trapped workforce where employees are \u201cso scared that they stay in the job with a crappy boss\u201d rather than risking unemployment in a stagnant market.<\/p>\n

After a slew of delayed economic data that was released last week, the major U.S. benchmark indices declined over the five sessions, but closed higher on Friday.<\/p>\n

The S&P 500 was 0.37% lower, whereas the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones slipped 0.10% and 0.95%, respectively, in the last week.<\/p>\n

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:<\/a>SPY<\/a>) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:<\/a>QQQ<\/a>), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, closed higher on Friday. The SPY was up 0.91% at $680.59, while the QQQ advanced 1.30% to $617.05, according to Benzinga Pro<\/a> data.<\/p>\n

The futures of Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 indices were trading higher on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
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This article Top Economist Warns Unemployment, Not Stock Prices, Is True Measure Of Economic Health: ‘Close To Zero Jobs’ Created Since Tariffs Were Introduced<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n