US employers added just 73,000 jobs last month as labor market weakens in face of Trump trade wars

By PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press Economics Writer WASHINGTON AP U S employers added just jobs last month and Labor Department revisions proved that hiring was much weaker than previously communicated in May and June The unemployment rate ticked up to The deterioration in the job territory is taking place with companies paralyzed by uncertainty over President Donald Trump s erratic exchange policies The Labor Department broadcasted Friday that revisions shaved a stunning jobs off May and June payrolls Related Articles Howie Carr Biden s edge mess a real hangover In contemporary times in History August America gets its MTV Fire clouds over Arizona and Utah wildfires are creating their own erratic weather ICE says it has made tentative job offers to more than as hiring ramps up Pentagon pulls back more National Guard troops and leaves behind in Los Angeles The stock realm tumbled on the news There are subtle signs that the labor industry has been weakening for months however New college graduates are struggling to break into the job sphere The unemployment rate for college graduates to years old reached in March the highest excluding the pandemic since and far above the nationwide unemployment rate Multiple Americans are staying in their jobs unwilling to start the job hunt because they believe this is as good as it gets and there is growing evidence that they re right Sparse industries are authentically hiring aggressively The current situation is a sharp reversal from the hiring boom of just three years ago when desperate employers were handing out signing bonuses and introducing perks such as Fridays off fertility benefits and even pet insurance to recruit and keep workers Employers added an average jobs a month through June down from last year s hiring and a whopping below the - average when the business sector was bounding back from COVID- lockdowns Weighing on the job sector are the lingering effects of higher interest rates that were used by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation President Donald Trump s massive import taxes and the costs and uncertainty they are imposing on businesses and an anticipated drop in foreign workers as the president s massive deportation plans move forward The labor territory is poised for a summer slowdown as businesses put hiring plans on hold but refrain from broad-based layoffs Gregory Daco chief economist at EY-Parthenon wrote in a commentary this week We see job rise slowing well below trend in the coming months Still bulk American workers enjoy an remarkable level of job prevention The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits a proxy for layoffs remains at healthy levels But Adam Schickling senior economist at Vanguard cautions that a low unemployment rate and a muted pace of layoffs mask underlying weakness In a commentary Tuesday Schickling wrote that the medical of the job region can be a matter of individual perspective If you re a registered nurse you may believe the job sphere s strength to be excellent The unemployment rate for experienced medical care practitioners is right now below If you re young and just entering the labor force or you re older and seeking to reenter it prospects may seem bleak The rate of people quitting their jobs a sign they re confident they can land something better has fallen from the record heights of and and is now below where it stood before the pandemic For one thing hiring has become concentrated in a handful of industries So far this year for example private U S employers have added jobs Of those nearly or were in just one of the Labor Department s industry categories healthcare and social assistance which spans everything from hospitals to daycare centers As hiring has cooled over the past couple of years it s become harder for young people or those re-entering the workforce to find jobs leading to longer job searches or spells of unemployment The Labor Department disclosed the number of discouraged workers who believe no jobs are available for them rose by in June to Historically a decline in hiring has been accompanied by a swift rise in layoffs a one-two punch that drives up the unemployment rate Schickling wrote in a commentary This day s labor field is defying that pattern One reason is that manufacturing companies which tend to pull the trigger on layoffs speedily when economic conditions weaken account for an ever-smaller share of American jobs So there is exclusively less headcount to cut he disclosed The bottom line Firms are pulling back on hiring without shedding existing workers in crucial numbers Schickling announced The end is a labor realm that is softening gradually not collapsing