The hotly anticipated figures are troubling. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday, September 5, the US job market is struggling to expand. With only 22,000 new jobs in August, the American economy is showing signs of slowing down. Worse still, the report represented a downward turn after the already poor numbers of previous months. Figures from June showed a net loss of 13,000 jobs. It was the first time since emerging from the Covid pandemic in early 2021 that the country registered a net loss in jobs.

The August figure fell short of what had been predicted in recent days. The Wall Street Journal, which surveys experts each month, had forecast 75,000 new jobs. The figure was already low, as most economists estimate the US economy needs to create between 80,000 and 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with population growth.

The number of unemployed people (7.4 million) increased only slightly, to 4.3% of the labor force. But what might appear to be a reassuring signal is actually misleading, as it is mainly due to a sharp drop in immigration, meaning there are fewer new job seekers.

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