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September's weak jobs report was the last reading on the labor market before the midterm elections and is likely to have added political significance, especially for President Trump and Republicans.
September's weak jobs report was the last reading on the labor market before the midterm elections, and the weak figures will further complicate the job facing President Trump and Republicans to sell voters on their economic record.
The president and his party have already been grappling with an economic message that is failing to gain traction, as well as polls showing that voters are likely to punish the party at the polls over the issue in almost exactly one month's time. Friday's release also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, and July and August payroll numbers were revised downward, further clouding the economic picture.
"It's not just an economic worry. It's a social and political worry as well," El-Erian said. Democrats were quick to tout the number as an indictment of Trump's economic record, while the White House and Republicans highlighted specific facets of the report to paint a more positive picture. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said in television interviews that he was"not even a little bit" disappointed about the overall direction of the economy.
He acknowledged that the latest number was a"little bit lukewarm," but said that monthly job figures"bounce up and down.
" Hassett and other White House officials also focused on increasing labor force participation and pointed out that the government shed 17,000 jobs last month as private payrolls gained a higher figure of 46,000, although that latter figure was still below expectations. Trump's message, as the election enters its final stretch to Nov. 3, is that the economy is in a"golden age" and the main issue is that he and his fellow Republicans have"done a very bad job of explaining.
"Democrats, meanwhile, put the number in election-year terms. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts calculated that Trump's economy has added an average of 33,000 jobs a month since Inauguration Day in 2025 —"far below the 120,000-a-month average in 2024" of the last year of former President Joe Biden's time in office, she said. Like other Democrats, Warren also zeroed in on weak wage growth, writing that"since the start of Trump's war , real wages have fallen.
" Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a former Biden administration official, added that"this is an okay reading for the labor market, but in the broader context, lower wage growth is a warning sign given the administration's harmful policies. "The numbers are even worse on inflation: 74.3% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of inflation, while just 22.6% approve.
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