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struggle4progress

(124,599 posts) Fri Sep 5, 2025, 04:52 PM Sep 5

US losing manufacturing jobs

Manufacturers are slowing hiring amid increased uncertainty around tariffs and consumer spending.

Bailey Schulz
USA TODAY

The U.S. manufacturing industry shed more workers in August despite policies from President Donald Trump’s administration aimed at bolstering the sector.

The United States lost 12,000 manufacturing jobs for the month, continuing a downward trend since its most recent peak in February 2023, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, employers added a disappointing 22,000 jobs in August, signaling a slowdown in U.S. hiring.

It will take time to see how tariffs’ impact on the manufacturing labor force plays out. So far this year, the uncertainty around the new trade policies and consumer spending has prompted some businesses to slow hirings.

“There's no good reason for manufacturing to be hiring right now, and there are a lot of good reasons for it to be taking it easy,” said Ron Hetrick, a senior economist at labor market analytics company Lightcast ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2025/09/05/manufacturing-employment-decline-jobs-report-august/85945275007/

5 replies

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Highlight:

US losing manufacturing jobs (Original Post) struggle4progress Sep 5 OP

Tariffs wrecking US manufacturing struggle4progress Sep 5 #1

MaddowBlog-U.S. job growth turns ugly over the summer as Trump's economic agenda falters LetMyPeopleVote Sep 5 #2

Ah, but Trump has the economy HE wants, if he wants lower interest rates. House of Roberts Sep 5 #3

Perhaps they're thinking that. paleotn Sep 5 #5

We are headed for recession. Better start saving all the money you can. OrlandoDem2 Sep 5 #4

struggle4progress

(124,599 posts)

1. Tariffs wrecking US manufacturing

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Sep 5, 2025, 04:54 PM

Sep 5

Sept. 5, 2025, 6:00 AM EDT
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor

In his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump promised that his sweeping tariff regime would help America become a "manufacturing nation once again." But so far his tariffs and his broader handling of the economy are achieving the opposite reality: New data shows America's manufacturing sector has been shrinking consistently — and executives in the industry are complaining about tariffs as a key factor.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that "US factory activity shrank in August for a sixth straight month, driven by a pullback in production that shows manufacturing remains bogged down by higher import duties" ...

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-tariffs-economy-manufacturing-ism-rcna228790

LetMyPeopleVote

(170,114 posts)

2. MaddowBlog-U.S. job growth turns ugly over the summer as Trump's economic agenda falters

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Sep 5, 2025, 04:54 PM

Sep 5

As MSNBC’s Ali Velshi summarized, “Turns out firing the ref doesn’t change the score.”

The question for the White House is simple: â€œIf Trump has created a â€˜hotâ€™ economy, why has American job growth slowed to a 16-year low?â€ www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-05T13:07:38.074Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/us-job-growth-turns-ugly-summer-trumps-economic-agenda-falters-rcna229286

Expectations heading into this week showed projections of about 75,000 new jobs having been added in the United States in August. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the totals fell short of those expectations. CNBC News reported:

Job creation sputtered in August, adding to recent signs of labor market weakening and likely keeping the Federal Reserve on track for a widely anticipated interest rate cut later this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 22,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday.

While the data from August was ugly, just as important were the revisions from June and July, which were down a combined 21,000 jobs compared with earlier, preliminary reporting. This included a rare negative month: The revisions showed the economy lost 13,000 in June.......

But as MSNBC’s Ali Velshi summarized, “Turns out firing the ref doesn’t change the score.”

Over the first eight months of 2025, the latest data suggests the economy has added 598,000 jobs. That might sound like a decent number, but over the first eight months of 2024 — when Trump said the economy was terrible — the total was over 1.1 million jobs, and over the first eight months of 2023, the U.S. economy added more than 1.8 million jobs.

In fact, if we exclude 2020, when the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, the first eight months of this year show the slowest job growth in the U.S. since 2009, when the economy was still hemorrhaging jobs from the Great Recession.

When trying to boast about the economy, the White House routinely references what it calls the “Trump Effect.” The latest job data, coupled with sluggish growth and stubborn inflation, suggests this “effect” simply isn’t working.

Indeed, the question the president and his team ought to face is simple: “If Trump has created a ‘hot’ economy, why has American job growth slowed to a 16-year low?”

House of Roberts

(6,249 posts)

3. Ah, but Trump has the economy HE wants, if he wants lower interest rates.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #2)

Fri Sep 5, 2025, 05:47 PM

Sep 5

The Fed will only drop interest rates if the aggregate demand drops significantly enough to lower inflation. That means put enough people out of work. Meanwhile, Trump keeps claiming the economy is strong, to shut up the critics of his policies.

paleotn

(20,907 posts)

5. Perhaps they're thinking that.

Reply to House of Roberts (Reply #3)

Fri Sep 5, 2025, 06:13 PM

Sep 5

Perhaps they’re not smart enough to think that. Either way, a pickup in demand with tariff juiced prices means an inflation spike. Fed is dammed if they do, dammed if they don’t. What a mess shithead has caused and he’s not been in office a full year yet.

OrlandoDem2

(3,106 posts)

4. We are headed for recession. Better start saving all the money you can.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Sep 5, 2025, 06:12 PM

Sep 5

Tighten the wallets because we could all be in a food line soon with Trump crashing the economy.

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