{"id":135373,"date":"2025-09-05T19:41:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135373\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T19:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:41:07","slug":"hiring-slows-in-us-as-employers-navigate-in-growing-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135373\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiring slows in US as employers navigate in growing uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The American job market, a pillar of U.S. economic strength since the pandemic, is crumbling under the weight of President Donald Trump\u2019s erratic economic policies<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Uncertain about where things are headed, companies have grown increasingly reluctant to hire, leaving agonized jobseekers unable to find work and weighing on consumers who account for 70% of all U.S. economic activity. Their spending has been the engine behind the world\u2019s biggest economy since the COVID-19 disruptions of 2020.<\/p>\n

The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers \u2014 companies, government agencies and nonprofits \u2014 added just 22,000 jobs last month, down from 79,000 in July and well below the 80,000 that economists had expected. <\/p>\n

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% last month, also worse than expected and the highest since 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. labor market deterioration intensified in August,\u2019’ Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist at BMO Capital Market, wrote in a commentary, noting that hiring was \u201cslumping dangerously close to stall speed. This raises the risk of a harder landing for consumer spending and the economy in the months ahead.\u2019’ <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Hiring stalls with US companies reluctant to expand in an uncertain economic landscape\n <\/p>\n

AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports on a dismal jobs report.<\/p>\n

Alexa Mamoulides, 27, was laid off in the spring from a job at a research publishing company and has been hunting for work ever since. She uses a spreadsheet to track her progress and said she\u2019s applied for 111 positions and had 14 interviews \u2014 but hasn\u2019t landed a job yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been a lot of ups and downs,\u201d Mamoulides said. \u201cAt the beginning I wasn\u2019t too stressed, but now that September is here, I\u2019ve been wondering how much longer it will take. It\u2019s validating that the numbers bear out my experience, but also discouraging.\u2019’<\/p>\n

The U.S. job market has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve\u2019s inflation fighters in 2022 and 2023. <\/p>\n

But the hiring slump also reflects Trump\u2019s policies, including his sweeping and ever-changing tariffs<\/a> on imports from almost every country on earth, a crackdown on illegal immigration<\/a> and purges of the federal workforce.<\/p>\n

Also contributing to the job market\u2019s doldrums are an aging population and the threat that artificial intelligence poses to young, entry-level workers.<\/p>\n

After revisions shaved 21,000 jobs off June and July payrolls, the U.S. economy is creating fewer than 75,000 jobs a month so far this year, less than half the 2024 average of 168,000 and not even a quarter of the 400,000 jobs added monthly in the hiring boom of 2021-2023.<\/p>\n

When the Labor Department put out a disappointing jobs report a month ago, an enraged Trump responded by firing the economist<\/a> in charge of compiling the numbers and nominating a loyalist to replace her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warning bell that rang in the labor market a month ago just got louder,\u2019 Olu Sonola, head of U.S economic research at Fitch Rates, wrote in a commentary. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to argue that tariff uncertainty isn\u2019t a key driver of this weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s protectionist policies are meant to help American manufacturers. But factories shed 12,000 workers last month and 38,000 so far this year. Many manufacturers are hurt, not helped, by Trump\u2019s tariffs on steel, aluminum and other imported raw materials and components.<\/p>\n

Construction companies, which rely on immigrant workers vulnerable to stepped-up ICE raids under Trump, cut 7,000 jobs in August, the third straight drop. The sweeping tax-and-spending bill that Trump signed into law July 4<\/a> delivered more money for immigration officers, making threats of a massive deportations more plausible.<\/p>\n

The federal government, its workforce targeted by Trump and by billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency, cut 15,000 jobs last month. Diane Swonk, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm KPMG, said the job market \u201cwill hit a cliff in October, when 151,000 federal workers who took buyouts will come off the payrolls.\u2019’<\/p>\n

And any job gains made last month were remarkably narrow: Healthcare and social assistance companies \u2013 a category that spans hospital to daycare centers \u2013 added nearly 47,000 jobs in August and now account for 87% of the private-sector jobs created in 2025.<\/p>\n

Democrats were quick to pounce on the report as evidence that Trump\u2019s policies were damaging the economy and hurting ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans cannot afford any more of Trump\u2019s disastrous economy. Hiring is frozen, jobless claims are rising, and the unemployment rate is now higher than it has been in years,\u201d said Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. \u201cThe president is squeezing every wallet as he chases an illegal tariff agenda that is hiking costs, spooking investment, and stunting domestic manufacturing.\u2033<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s sweeping import taxes \u2014 tariffs \u2014 are taking a toll on businesses that rely on foreign suppliers.<\/p>\n

Trick or Treat Studios in Santa Cruz, California, for instance, gets 50% of its supplies from Mexico, 40% from China and the rest from Thailand, The company, which makes ghoulish masks that are replicas of such horror icons like Chucky the doll from the \u201cChild\u2019s Play\u201d movies as well as costumes, props, action figures and games, has seen its tariff bill rise to $389,000 this year, said co-founder Christopher Zephro. He was forced to raise prices across the board by 15%.<\/p>\n

In May, Zephro had to cut 15 employees, or 25% of his workforce. That marked the first time he\u2019s had to lay off staff since he started the company in 2009. \u2033That\u2019s a lot money that could have been used to hire more people, bring in more product, develop more products,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to do layoffs because of tariffs. It was one of the worst days of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

Josh Hirt, senior economist at the financial services firm Vanguard, said that the tumbling payroll numbers also reflect a reduced supply of workers \u2013 the consequence of an aging U.S. population and a reduction in immigration. \u201cWe should get more comfortable seeing numbers below 75,000 and below 50,000\u2019\u2019 new jobs a month, he said. \u201cThe likelihood of seeing negative (jobs) numbers is higher,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Economists are also beginning to worry that artificial intelligence is taking jobs that would otherwise have gone young or entry-level workers. In a report last month, researchers at Stanford University<\/a> found \u201csubstantial declines in employment for early-career workers\u2019\u2019 \u2014 ages 22-25 \u2014 in fields most exposed to AI. The unemployment rate for those ages 16 to 24 rose last month to 10.5%, the Labor Department reported Friday, the highest since April 2021.<\/p>\n

Jobseeker Mamoulides is sure that competition from AI is one of the reasons she\u2019s having trouble finding work. \u201cI know at my previous company, they were really embracing AI and trying to integrate it as much as they could into people\u2019s workflow,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were getting lots of (Microsoft) \u2018Copilot\u2019 licenses for people to use. From that experience, I do think companies may be relying on AI more for entry-level roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some relief may be coming. <\/p>\n

The weak August numbers make it all but certain that Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting, Sept. 16-17. Under chair Jerome Powell, the Fed has been reluctant to cut rates until it sees what impact Trump\u2019s import taxes have on inflation. Lower borrowing costs could \u2014 eventually anyway \u2014 encourage consumers and businesses to spend and invest.<\/p>\n

Vanguard\u2019s Hirt expects the Fed to reduce its benchmark rate \u2013 now a range of 4.25% to 4.5% \u2013 by a full percentage point over the next year and says it might cut rates at each of its next three meetings.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly pressured Powell to lower rates, and has sought to fire one Fed governor<\/a>, Lisa Cook, over allegations of mortgage fraud in what Cook claims is a pretext to gain control over the central bank. The president blamed Powell again for slowing jobs numbers Friday in a social media post, saying \u201cJerome \u2018Too Late\u2019 Powell should have lowered rates long ago. As usual, he\u2019s \u2018Too Late!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The July 4 budget bill also \u201cincluded a big wallop of front-loaded spending on defense and border security, as well as tax cuts that will quickly flow through to household and business after-tax incomes,\u2019’ Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, wrote in a commentary.<\/p>\n

But the damage that has already occurred may be difficult to repair.<\/p>\n

James Knightley, an economist at ING, noted that the University of Michigan\u2019s consumer surveys show that 62% of Americans expect unemployment to rise over the next year. Only 13% expect it to fall. Only four times in the last 50 years has their employment outlook been so bleak<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople see and feel changes in the jobs market before they show up in the official data \u2013 they know if their company has a hiring freeze or the odd person here or there is being laid off,\u201d Knightley wrote. \u201cThis suggests the real threat of outright falls in employment later this year.\u2019’<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Writer Josh Boak contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The American job market, a pillar of U.S. economic strength since the pandemic, is crumbling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[84952,181,39473,28,84951,6883,84950,12,8876,109,101,11,8877,793,962,790,11382,3139,84954,2938,1931,84949,1929,17110,1536,15960,84948,84953,8879,8878,795],"class_list":["post-135373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alexa-mamoulides","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bill-adams","tag-business","tag-christopher-zephro","tag-coronavirus","tag-diane-swonk","tag-donald-trump","tag-economic-indicators","tag-economic-policy","tag-economy","tag-elon-musk","tag-federal-reserve-system","tag-general-news","tag-government-policy","tag-immigration","tag-information-technology","tag-international-trade","tag-james-knightley","tag-jerome-powell","tag-jobs-and-careers","tag-josh-hirt","tag-labor","tag-lisa-cook","tag-microsoft-corp","tag-nonprofits","tag-richard-neal","tag-scott-anderson","tag-tariffs-and-global-trade","tag-u-s-department-of-labor","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}