With 203,000 more people out of work in the United States, the unemployment rate has climbed to 4.1%, and only 151,000 jobs were created in February – fewer than the expected 170,000, but better than January's 125,000. The "Trump effect" is beginning to take hold: Under the leadership of Elon Musk, the federal government has cut 10,000 jobs (state and local governments, on the other hand, have added 21,000 jobs).

In reality, the full effect of federal job cuts will only be fully felt within the next few months. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has tried to ready the public, claiming that the growth that happened under Joe Biden was driven merely by jobs and public deficits. "Could we be seeing that this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure. And look, there’s going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private spending," Bessent said on CNBC. "The market and the economy have just become hooked, and we’ve become addicted to this government spending, and there’s going to be a detox period."

On the ground, the situation is deteriorating. On Thursday, March 6, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported a count of 63,583 layoff announcements in February within the federal civil service and government subcontractors. Uncertainty hangs over these subcontractors, as they are likely to have their contracts canceled by Musk's spending cuts initiative.

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