September 5, 2025

The first jobs report after President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is here, and yikes.

US job growth continued to slow down in August, a sign that the labor market is deteriorating markedly.

The government also revised its numbers from earlier in the summer, and said the economy lost a net 13,000 jobs in June. It was the first such decline since December 2020.

I have mixed feelings about today's report. On one hand, it is distressing, a rapidly blinking warning sign against Trump's wrecking ball moves to the economy. But I am also somewhat relieved that it did not appear to have the MAGA, partisan bent I had been fearful that EJ Antoni, the Project 2025 architect Trump picked to run the BLS, would start applying to future reports. After all, Trump's firing of the former BLS head marked our official entry into his mad king era.

Of course, this could be temporary; Antoni may very well start meddling, say, next month. But for now, it appears he is reluctant, and I'll take any modicum of good-ish news these days.

—Inae Oh

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