Where Are the Jobs?

 Financial FAQs

“Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in November (+64,000) and has shown little net change since April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In November, the unemployment rate, at 4.6 percent, was little changed from September. Employment rose in health care and construction in November, while federal government continued to lose jobs.” BLS

 

FREDpayrolls

The much delayed ‘official’ U.S. unemployment report for November was actually close to earlier industry predictions from private payroll surveys. A total of 64,000 private payroll jobs were created in November and just 116,000 jobs have been created since Trump’s April 2 retaliatory tariff announcements—17,000 jobs per month.

More than 200,000 per month were added during the four years of the Biden administration. This is the train wreck that Trump’s economic policies have created from the combination of DOGE government job and spending cuts, and immigrant roundups.

So why have Trump and his Republicans done this much damage to American workers and the American economy? Because the real reason for the tariff wars and government downsizing is to accumulate and centralize all power and wealth to Trump’s oligarchs and the White House.

And Congress hasn’t yet approved any of the tariff agreements that are causing prices to soar on everything.

Healthcare added 46,000 jobs, in line with the average monthly gain of 39,000 over the prior 12 months, construction employment added 28,000 in November, and social assistance continued to trend up in November (+18,000).

But bringing manufacturing home that he touted was one of the main reasons for raising the tariffs, continues to lose jobs.

In November, both the unemployment rate, at 4.6 percent is a four-year high, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.8 million, were higher than last November, when the jobless rate was 4.2 percent, and the number of unemployed people was 7.1 million.

Wall Street’s optimism is keeping stock indexes at record highs because it is betting on next year when consumers see higher tax refunds and corporations higher profits as their new tax benefits (from Big Beautiful Tax Bill) and AI productivity gains kick in.

But who benefits? It’s not hard to guess. It’s the same K-shaped, trickle-down economy once again. A good way to look at it with +3% inflation is that it hurts lower and middle-income folk without assets like homes and stocks that can afford less, while it boosts upper-middle and upper-income folks because rising inflation increases value of the assets they own.

So, the economy will continue to grow, but only for those near the top. Trump is bringing back the Gilded Age of the 1890s that created the corruption and self-dealing of the original robber barons. That is the America he wants to make greater again!

“Those at the bottom are living with the cumulative impacts of price inflation,” said Peter Atwater, an economics professor at William & Mary in Virginia cited by MarketWatch. “At the same time, those at the top are benefiting from the cumulative impact of asset inflation.”

When will Americans come to realize what that means and direct their anger at the real thieves?

Harlan Green © 2025

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen