Bad jobs numbers leads president to fire the messenger
Trump fires Labor statistics chief following dismal job reports
Friday's latest national jobs reports for July, show a gain of 73,000 jobs; the weakest gain in ten months.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The national jobs picture for July has both good news and ominous dark clouds.
The United States is gaining jobs, but just barely. Friday's latest national jobs reports for July show a gain of 73,000 jobs; the weakest gain in 10 months.
Duane Morris Law Firm's Michael Bernick, a former California Employment Development Department Director, has analyzed all this and put the information into context.
"The unemployment rate is still, by all historic measures, very low. It went up slightly from 4.1% last month to to 4.2% this month, but [it's] still very low by historic standards," Bernick said.
Gains far below figures initially reported
The steep revisions in the May and June job reports showed that the reported gains of 286,000 jobs turned out to be a gain of only 36,000 jobs; very weak for a two-month span. It was a significant reduction of over 250,000, which shows the job market has been cooling.
Bernick said there are two main factors contributing to the reduced numbers.
"We need to take into account that the labor market itself, due to… the halt in immigration and Baby Boomer retirements; the number of people in the labor force, who are looking for work, have gone down significantly this year," Bernick said.
The winner, as usual, is the healthcare sector, which accounts for three-quarters of June's job gains. Social and family services gained most of the rest.
The federal, state and local government sector – usually a big job gainer, – actually lost 12,000 jobs. Professional services also lost at least 10,000 jobs.
"And, that's consistent with what we've been seeing with the tightening of the white-collar labor market," Bernick said.
Bernick added the reports signals good news for wage gains for those who earn a little less.
"3.9%, over the year, particularly strong wage gains for lower-wage workers and wage gains that continue to outrun the inflation rate," said Bernick.
He added the biggest impact of the tariffs, so far, has not been so much on job or inflation, but on employer uncertainty.
"It's led employers in California to put in a ban, to put a freeze on hiring," he said.
Trump claims numbers were rigged
After hearing Friday's jobs report, President Donald Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Director Erika McEntarfer.
She was approved by 86% of the Senate Republicans and Democrats last year.
Trump alleged the numbers were rigged to make Republicans and him look bad.
"I think her numbers were wrong, just like I thought her numbers were wrong before the election. Days before the election she came out with these beautiful numbers for Kamala, I guess Biden slash Kamala," Trump said.