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by WILL FOLKS
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The American economy posted its weakest employment gains of the year in July, creating an anemic 73,000 new jobs – a number which fell well below Wall Street expectations.
But that wasn’t the real kicker in the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – released on Friday (August 1, 2025). It looks as though the administration of Donald Trump is playing the same manipulation game as Joe Biden – releasing inflated employment numbers on the front end only to revise them dramatically downward after the fact.
According to the latest BLS data (.pdf), job gains from the June report were almost completely erased – with the initial estimate of 147,000 new jobs slashed to just 14,000 new jobs. So much for the “expectations exceeded” narrative. Meanwhile, the May report saw a similar implosion – with the original estimate of 144,000 new jobs to just 19,000 new jobs.
That’s a whopping 258,000 jobs… gone. Or rather never there.
“Revisions for May and June were larger than normal,” BLS bean counters noted.
You think?
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Despite the weak jobs data, the top line unemployment rate held steady at 4.2% – while the more telling labor participation rate slipped to 62.2%, its lowest reading since November 2022.
Well, that’s assuming we can trust these numbers… which it has become abundantly clear we cannot.
“Trump not only took a page out of the Biden playbook, (he) ripped pretty much all of it out,” financial website Zero Hedge noted, adding that Trump’s labor market revisions “put to shame any/all of the far smaller revisions that defined much of the Biden regime.”
Indeed. We were hopeful Trump’s return to the White House might be accompanied by a commitment to accurate reporting on the state of the American economy, but it appears as though the current administration is engaging in the same goal-seeking behavior as the last one.
Of interest? Zero Hedge speculated Trump may have actually wanted a terrible report this month because he’s hoping it will compel embattled Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to cut interest rates.
“Trump may have literally instructed the BLS to print a number that basically forces Powell’s hand to cut,” the site noted.
Trump was certainly pushing Powell to cut rates on his Truth Social page early Friday…
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The secretive Federal Reserve – which is ostensibly apolitical – has played politics with interest rates before, cutting them last September to try and boost economic activity during the final months of the Biden administration. The goal of that rate cut? Giving former vice president Kamala Harris an electoral advantage.
While last fall’s move was particularly overt, it was by no means a departure for the Fed. During Trump’s first term in office, rates were raised seven times in less than two years. By contrast, the central bank raised rates just twice during the entire eight years Barack Obama was in office – and one of those rate hikes was approved in December of 2016, the month after Trump was elected.
Despite persistent pressure from Trump, Powell insisted now is not the time to cut rates.
“The economy is not performing as though restrictive policy were holding it back inappropriately,” he said earlier this week.
To recap: higher rates limit borrowing, essentially pumping the brakes on economic activity. Conversely, low interest rates allow for cheaper borrowing – which in theory stimulates investment, jobs and economic growth. Rates are lowered when the economy needs a boost. They are raised when policymakers want economic growth to cool so they can get a handle on inflation.
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RELATED | BLAME GAME ON INFLATION
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Whatever your view on the state of the American economy, though, it’s wrong to lie to people – and it’s wrong to play politics with economic data. The Fed should raise or cut rates based on valid macroeconomic indicators – not political considerations. Similarly, Trump’s administration should not manipulate jobs data because it wants to force the Fed’s hands – or for any other reason.
Writing this, I’m reminded of a West Wing episode which aired on November 3, 1999. In that episode, a fictitious interim congressman cast a key vote after he was persuaded on the merits of the argument by logic and fundamental fairness – as opposed to partisanship or self-interest.
“I think the problems that we’re going to face in the new century are far beyond the Wisdom of Solomon, let alone me,” the congressman said in announcing his decision. “But I think the right place to start is to say – fair is fair. This is who we are. These are our numbers.”
Indeed… and if we can’t trust those numbers, it’s further evidence we can’t trust our government.
BANNER VIA: GETTY IMAGES
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THE REPORT…
(BLS)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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6 comments
All of those illegal aliens … 8 years of Obama and 4 years of Biden were a nightmare.
Notice when you buy food, packages contain less weight. You get less for the same price.
Food prices have hit a record high under Trump. Unemployment is rising. Tax cuts for the rich at the expense of everyone else. Tariffs are making clothes, cars, and electronics more expensive for everyone. He is covering up his past relationship with a pedophile. Our relationship with our traditional allies is in ruins. And don’t even get me started on the millions of dollars we spend every month so he can play golf. It’s all starting to sound like his first administration.
And please stop with the gifts. Trump said the tacky 200 million dollar ballroom with gold chandeliers he is building is his gift to the Country, but we are paying for it. Trump said Kuwait was giving us a jet, but we are going to spend a billion dollars on it, and he is taking it with him when he leaves office. This man is not just the most corrupt, immoral President in history; he is proud of it.
Revisions happen during EVERY administration. Everyone realizes it unless you’re a disingenuous numpty like Will. The idea that Trump is engineering this is incredibly stupid. Trump is nowhere near smart enough to do this.
Face it, Trump sucks for the economy. HE HAS DRIVEN CASINOS INTO BANKRUPTCY. It takes a special kind of stupid to do that although slugs like Zero Hedge would probably find a way to frame that as a masterful move.
It has been decided to subpoena your ISP and your recorded MAC address for legal purposes.
You can lawyer up, however, you would be wasting your money. Will owns you :-)
Whoa! Close call. I thought Will got up off his bended knee to criticize Dear Leader. I was worried he was going to get sued by DL for A BILLION GAZILLION DOLLARS.
But turns out the Truth Social is it’s the damn Fed again. Luckily “FITZYNew has been on the case for ten million years because we are LIBERTARIAN and awesome”. Thanks bro. Keep it up.
“It has been decided to subpoena your ISP and your recorded MAC address for legal purposes. ”
Tell me you don’t know jack about IT without telling me.