President Donald Trump attributed the recent rise in the unemployment rate to government job cuts. He also stressed that all new jobs are being created in the private sector.
Trump, during the Most Favored Nation drug price press conference on Friday, acknowledged the increase in the unemployment rate but emphasized that “the only reason” that happened was because of significant cuts in government jobs.
He stressed that the reduction of government jobs was unprecedented and will continue. The president explained that the federal workforce had “millions and millions” of people who have jobs that “have never been seen.”
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Trump continued to claim that he “can reduce unemployment to 2%, 1% or practically zero by simply hiring people” in the federal government, even though these jobs are not needed. “We don’t need 10 people to fill one job,” he stated.
The president stated, “100% of our new jobs are in the private sector. So that’s it for the last number of months … That’s the way to make America great again.”
Trump also suggested that private sector job growth will continue to improve with the continued construction of new buildings, AI, and auto plants across the country.
Trump’s comments come after the US labor market showed signs of cooling in November as job growth narrowly missed already subdued expectations, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest level in four years.
US non-farm payrolls rose by 64,000 in November, led by stronger-than-expected private sector hiring, which added 69,000 jobs, as Trump highlighted.
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However, a 5,000-job reduction in government employment offset some of the gains, keeping overall job growth muted. The reduction in the overall federal workforce comes because of the government shutdown as well as Trump’s massive job cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Leading economists and experts raised concerns about the slowdown of the US labor market after the release of the November data. Economist Justin Wolfers he said it is unclear whether the economy is already in recession, but noted that employment trends point to a clear decline. He also stated that the economy has created “zero jobs” from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. However, Wolfers claims could not be confirmed by the data.