White House Defends 23,000 July Job Loss as 4.1% Unemployment Masks Labor Exit
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 10
White House Defends 23,000 July Job Loss as 4.1% Unemployment Masks Labor Exit
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 10
Summary
23,000 jobs disappeared in July, the first negative payroll reading in months, while the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% only because labor force participation fell.
Kevin Hassett, the White House’s top economist, argued the economy was “really, really booming” and said payrolls would have been about 100,000 higher if job-losing sectors were excluded.
Six monthly job losses have now occurred during Trump’s 19-month second term, when total job creation has reached 542,000 versus nearly 2.7 million in the previous 19-month stretch.
19 months into the term, the weak hiring trend leaves 2026 on pace to be the second-worst year for job creation since the Great Recession, excluding the 2020 pandemic shock.