The United States labour market has begun to stall as employers face economic uncertainty due to tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump and an immigration crackdown that has softened the labour pool.<\/p>\n
The economy added 22,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, according to the report published by the US Department of Labor on Friday, the latest sign of slowing momentum in the labour market.<\/p>\n
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Healthcare added 31,000 jobs and social assistance 16,000, making them the only sectors to see significant gains.<\/p>\n
Smaller increases were reported in construction, retail, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. Those advances were offset by losses in other areas, including 15,000 federal government jobs, 12,000 in manufacturing, and 6,000 in oil and gas extraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother poor jobs report thanks to tariffs. With the benefit of revisions, it\u2019s increasingly clear that tariffs are weighing on hiring and jobs. Manufacturing jobs are falling sharply, and so are other trade-sensitive sectors like mining and wholesale trade,\u201d said Skanda Amarnath, executive director of Employ America and a former Federal Reserve economist, in a note provided to Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
July\u2019s report was revised up slightly, to 79,000 jobs added versus 73,000. June\u2019s figures, however, were cut sharply, from 14,000 jobs added to 13,000 lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all of the revisions are now in, jobs fell in June. We don\u2019t see that outside of natural disasters, recessions, or the periods right around recessions,\u201d Amarnath said.<\/p>\n
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC the August numbers were \u201cdisappointing\u201d, but said he expected revisions to bring improvements in the months ahead.<\/p>\n
Broader slowdown<\/p>\n
The August report adds to a series of weak indicators this week that point to a cooling labour market.<\/p>\n
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Wednesday showed vacancies dropped to their lowest levels since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time since April 2021, there are now more unemployed workers than available jobs.<\/p>\n
Private-sector hiring has also slowed. The ADP National Employment Report released on Thursday showed payrolls rising by 54,000 in August, down sharply from 106,000 the prior month. The ADP survey does not include government jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe year started with strong job growth, but that momentum has been whipsawed by uncertainty,\u201d Nela Richardson, ADP\u2019s chief economist, said in the release.<\/p>\n
Layoffs are also rising. A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed announced job cuts surged by 39 percent in August compared to July, with US employers cutting more than 85,000 positions. That figure is up 13 percent from a year earlier. So far this year, employers have cut more than 892,000 jobs, the highest total since 2020.<\/p>\n
Political fallout<\/p>\n
The weak data comes just weeks after Trump dismissed<\/a> Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the bureau drastically revised down the May and June payroll figures.<\/p>\n \u201cThis jobs report also affirms what we already knew \u2014 that President Trump\u2019s firing of BLS Commissioner Erick McEntarfer was completely unwarranted and was definitionally a case of shooting the messenger,\u201d said Angela Hanks, chief of policy programmes at The Century Foundation, in comments provided to Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n