What The Worst Jobs Report In 15 Years Means To Us All
Trump shot the messenger.
President Donald Trump took one look at the report and fired McEntarfer. Trump, in essence, didn't like the message so he took an unprecedented step He shot the messenger. In his rantings and ravings, all of which began only minutes after the report was released, Trump accused McEntarfer of two things: bad reporting and political motivation.
This was neither.
For the record, there appears to be no other confirmed case in U.S. history of a Senate‑confirmed, cabinet-level official being dismissed specifically for delivering a report with 'bad' news. The Senate confirmed McEntarfer, a Biden pick, by a vote of 86-8, clearly bipartisan,
Jobs Reports
Monthly Jobs Reports have been issued by the BLS ever since 1939, always keeping to the same methodology and protocol. One thousand twenty-/five reports – both good news and bad – have been unassailable, and there is every reason to believe that has continued.
Not only were July's numbers – 73,000 jobs created – among the lowest of the last 15 years, but the previous two months were revised sharply downward by a combined 258,000 – May and June to 19K and 14K – yielding in the past three months a level lower than any three-month figure other than Covid's ransacking of the workplace of the past 15 years. These revisions are standard operating procedure, and happen every month. If I were Trump, I'd be upset, too, but not at McEntarfer.
A more granular look is alarming. Of the 73,000 jobs, 55,000 came in health care – not a surprise – leaving only 18,000 for the rest of the entire economy. Trump can blame anyone he wants for that but it's still a frightening thing.
What the July Jobs Report Means
It is this writer's strong suspicion that these disastrous numbers were self-inflicted and brewing under the surface since Trump's inauguration and immediate creation of DOGE with Elon Musk's chain saw-yielding symbolism. Analysts and observers everywhere – me included – were waiting for this – and it finally hit – with a second shoe certainly looming above and ready to drop. Probably more.
The chickens are coming home to roost, all our career readiness and job search strategies are now in play, and the battle is joined.
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