Trump’s economy shed 23,000 jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, a stunning reversal that came in well below the roughly 85,000 jobs economists had expected. The shockingly negative report, combined with steep downward revisions to prior months and wage growth that continues to trail the true cost of living, makes clear that Donald Trump’s economic agenda is failing working families.
Key points:
- The economy lost jobs outright in July. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000, reversing June’s already-weak gain and marking a sharp break from the 34,000 average monthly gain the country had been running over the prior year.
- Prior months were far weaker than originally reported. BLS revised May’s gain down by 66,000 and June’s gain down by 37,000, leaving those two months a combined 103,000 jobs lower than first announced. That is the kind of pattern that shows sustained weakness, not a single bad month.
- Job losses hit the sectors families depend on. Local government education shed 50,000 positions and retail trade lost 19,000 jobs, a sign of strain reaching classrooms and storefronts alike.
- Workers are leaving the labor force. The labor force participation rate fell to 61.4 percent, a level not seen in more than five years. That decline reflects Americans giving up on finding work in an economy that isn’t generating the jobs it needs.
- Layoffs are accelerating. The number of workers on temporary layoff jumped by 153,000 to 921,000 in July, and long-term unemployment, joblessness lasting 27 weeks or more, now accounts for over a quarter of all unemployed workers.
- Wages are losing ground to inflation for the fourth straight month. Average hourly earnings rose just 3.2 percent over the past year, growth that continues to fall behind the true cost of living for families paying inflated prices for everyday goods.
- Tariffs are still raising prices for everyday goods. Trump’s tariff policy continues to function as a tax on American consumers, driving up the cost of imported goods even as job losses concentrated in retail trade show businesses pulling back.
- The war in Iran is adding fuel-driven pressure on prices. Trump’s decision to escalate conflict in Iran has contributed to volatility in energy markets, and higher energy costs ripple through transportation, manufacturing, and the price of goods that depend on stable fuel supplies.
Every one of these pressures traces back to choices Trump made. He imposed the tariffs, escalated the conflict with Iran, and ruined a job creation juggernaut in just 18 months. A record far from the “A+” he thinks he deserves on his handling of the economy.
And now, he’s not even trying, telling reporters that he’s “already won,” so he doesn’t need to care about the midterm elections, echoing a sentiment expressed by reporters who say he is behaving like someone who doesn’t care. Trump may not care about the economy, but families do, and they’ll remember who was in charge when the paychecks stopped growing, and the job losses started piling up.
Published: Aug 7, 2026