The flow of abysmal U.S. economic data continued Thursday with the release of figures showing that the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits has reached its highest level in nearly four years, heightening concerns that the Trump administration is pushing the country toward a period of “stagflation.”<\/p>\n
“Today’s unemployment report, coupled with last week’s jobs data, suggests that we’re fast stumbling into stagflation, with fledgling jobs growth and rising prices,” Andrew Stettner, unemployment insurance expert at The Century Foundation, said in a statement following the new Labor Department numbers.<\/p>\n
The department said<\/a> that 1.97 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits during the week ending July 26, an increase of 38,000 compared to the previous week.<\/p>\n “In contrast with the president’s assertion of bustling job creation,” said Stettner, “Americans can’t get off of unemployment benefits in an economy that has stopped adding jobs outside of healthcare.”<\/p>\n The government figures were released a day after private data showed<\/a> that employment in the U.S. services sector fell last month as prices rose. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in July at the fastest pace in nine months<\/a>, even as President Donald Trump<\/a> claimed his erratic tariff regime would revive the sector.<\/p>\n “Private data confirms the government numbers, and firing the head of BLS can’t change that,” said<\/a> Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), referring to Trump’s decision<\/a> to terminate Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in the wake of last week’s terrible U.S. jobs report<\/a>\u2014calling into question the reliability of future federal data.<\/p>\n “Republicans are killing jobs and feeding inflation,” Moore added. “Trump is making stagflation great again.”<\/p>\n “Trump’s economy of uncertainty is leading to widespread anxiety, with more than 3 in 4 Americans saying they are concerned about a possible recession.”<\/p>\n The recent data\u2014combined with surveys showing<\/a> American consumers are increasingly struggling with the rising prices of groceries and other necessities\u2014appears to vindicate warnings from economists and other analysts that the U.S. economy is in growing trouble under Trump’s erratic stewardship.<\/p>\n “The risk of stagflation has risen meaningfully,” Olu Sonola, an economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote<\/a> in a client note. “Inflation is drifting further from target, private sector economic growth has slowed materially, and the labor market has just sounded a warning bell.” <\/p>\n