Financial FAQs
“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in food services and drinking places and in local government education. The information industry lost jobs.” BLS.gov
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 162,000 in August, higher than the average monthly gain of 31,000 over the prior 12 months, said the Bureau of Labor Services.The new payroll jobs tallied in August look to be a temporary blip after miniscule job gains the prior three months.
Why the sudden rise? These are largely service sector jobs, which means summertime travel and leisure activities pick up, and schools will soon begin.
Employment in food services and drinking places increased by 59,000 in August, well above the average monthly gain of 12,000 over the prior 12 months. Local government education added 42,000 jobs in August, offsetting a decrease in the prior month.
Will this reverse the severe job decline since early 2024, the start of the second Trump administration, that is portrayed in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) graph above?
Only if Trump will cease finding ways to illegally raise tariffs, begin to honor existing tariff agreements, and settle the Iran war that he is mired in. Oh yes, also stop the immigration policies that have depleted the number of working adults.
Otherwise, the one million fewer working adults who have stopped looking for work, thus shrinking the labor force, will also shrink economic growth.
The FRED graph is an accurate depiction of what a gutted labor market looks like since 2024. There is no consistency, because it reflects the moment-to-moment thoughts, or lack of thoughts, of a President who rules by distraction to shield the damage to economic growth he and Republicans are causing.
It’s a huge damage list—+300,000 federal jobs cuts by DOGE, downsizing or eliminating whole departments in Health and Human Services, the EPA, Medicare and Medicaid that hurts worker productivity by creating a sicker working population.
The bond rout (NYTimes) that is raising longer term interest rates has scared our allies. Both the Dutch and French governments have elected to remove their $billions in gold assets out of U.S. territory, where they have been traditionally held because they no longer trust the U.S. to keep international agreements.
Will other countries begin to sell off their U.S. holding of Treasury bonds as well? That would be a major red flag, as it means other countries are turning away from using the U.S. Dollar that supports most world trade.
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman doesn’t think it’s a danger just yet.
“I’m not saying that Democrats should be like Trump, and blithely ignore debt and deficits. They should by all means push for tax hikes on high incomes, close loopholes exploited by multinational corporations, strengthen IRS enforcement, and more.”
The economic uncertainty could also be a result of Trump’s own deteriorating mental state and three more years of endless military wars. We will need our allies.
Harlan Green © 2026
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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