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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
AI now among top five reasons for job cuts in US
A report by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas indicates that artificial intelligence led to over 10,000 job losses in the US in July alone, making it one of the top five reasons for job cuts this year. The US job market saw only 73,000 new jobs added in July, significantly below forecasts, with over 806,000 private sector job cuts announced through July, the highest number for that period since 2020. The technology sector has been hit hardest, with more than 89,000 job cuts, and over 27,000 cuts since 2023 directly attributed to AI. Beyond AI, job losses are also linked to cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency and rising costs in the retail sector, which has seen an almost 250 per cent increase in layoffs. Experts suggest AI's impact is often indirect, with companies investing in AI software instead of hiring new staff amid economic uncertainty.
Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Trump fires statistics chief over ‘rigged' jobs figures
President Trump has fired the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after claiming jobs figures had been 'rigged' to suggest the economy was performing worse than expected. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the government agency, of manipulating the numbers both before and after last year's presidential election to favour the Democrats over the Republicans. He did not provide any direct evidence to support his claims against McEntarfer, an economist who was nominated for the role by Joe Biden in July 2023. The latest statistics, released on Friday, showed only 73,000 jobs had been added in July, well below the expected figure of 110,000, while the numbers for May and June were revised downwards. 'In my opinion, today's jobs numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad,' Trump wrote, insisting that 'the economy is BOOMING under 'TRUMP' '. He added: 'We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.' The US labour secretary, Lori Chavez-De Remer, backed the move and claimed that 'a recent string of major revisions have come to light and raised concerns about decisions being made by the Biden-appointed Labor commissioner'. McEntarfer did not directly respond to the allegations but said in a statement on social media: 'It has been the honour of my life to serve as commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.' Her role will be taken over by the deputy commissioner of the BLS, William Wiatrowski, until a replacement is nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate. The decision to fire McEntarfer was criticised by several Republican senators as well as the previous commissioner of the BLS, William Beach, who was nominated by Trump. Beach said the sacking set a 'dangerous precedent' and described the allegation of faked figures as 'totally groundless'. In a statement issued jointly with another former commissioner, Erica Groshen, he said: 'This escalates the president's unprecedented attacks on the independence and integrity of the federal statistical system.' • Federal Reserve holds interest rates despite Donald Trump pressure The jobs estimates were produced in the same way every month and revisions were carried out every month 'to reflect slower-arriving, more-accurate information', he said, adding that Trump was seeking 'to blame someone for unwelcome economic news'. Rand Paul, Cynthia Lummis and Thom Tillis, the Republican senators, also questioned the reasons for dismissal. Tillis told NBC: 'If she was just fired because the president or whoever decided to fire the director just did it because they didn't like the numbers, they ought to grow up.' The latest report showed the manufacturing sector reported its third consecutive month of job losses, with factory jobs down by 11,000 in July, despite Trump's efforts to use tariffs to encourage companies to manufacture more goods in the US. Government lay-offs also weighed on payrolls, the sector losing 12,000 jobs. The US Department of Labor reported that hiring in May and June was weaker than it had previously stated. Employers added 258,000 fewer jobs across those two months than previously forecast. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent from 4.1 per cent in June. Trump remained unrepentant as he left the White House on Friday, telling reporters: 'I believe the numbers were phoney, just like they were before the election, and there were other times — so you know what I did? I fired her. And you know what I did? The right thing.'
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Good, mad and ugly: the US economy's performance under Trump
According to Donald Trump's White House, the US economy is booming, inflation is dead and jobs are surging. A blizzard of economic reports has cast a pall on such claims in recent days. This week's data on Trump's early economic record was mixed – good, mad and ugly – with jobs numbers so weak he reached for the catchphrase he once used to build himself into a reality TV star: you're fired. The picture is chaotic, with robust headline growth in the world's largest economy, wild swings in trade, and a remarkable slowdown in the labor market. For six months, Trump has staged an extraordinary campaign to overhaul the global economy and extract concessions from Washington's allies and rivals by threatening and imposing steep tariffs on their US exports. But the unpredictable, erratic rollout of this strategy has already had bizarre consequences. On the surface, at least, this week's deluge of data opened with good news: the US economy returned to growth in the second quarter, with gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of economic health – expanding at a rate not seen since last summer. But this followed an unexpected contraction in the first quarter, and underlined some more concerning figures, such as a 15.6% drop in private domestic investment. Businesses have been struggling to keep up with the hour-by-hour jerks and jolts on sweeping economies policies. Yes, there was good growth in the last quarter but in the first six months, the US economy grew at a mediocre 1.2%. The Wall Street Journal called it 'the weirdest GDP report ever'. Delve a bit deeper, and you start to see how the US economy is grappling with a series of extraordinary forces as Trump hammers out his trade strategy. Firms spent much of the first quarter waiting for the president to reveal his plans for tariffs: which countries would be targeted, at what rates, and when. They stockpiled, triggering an unprecedented surge in imports that pushed growth into the red. In the second quarter, however, as Trump started to ramp up his economic attacks, imports tumbled at an equally astonishing pace. Net exports – how much a country exports more than it imports – boosted GDP. This is Trump's least favorite chart. Despite his many public demands, threats and attacks, the Federal Reserve has not yet cut interest rates this year. Why? Jerome Powell, the central bank's chair, has repeatedly argued it should wait and see the impact of the president's trade strategy before moving. Fed officials are worried that inflation – despite Trump's claims that it has collapsed on his watch – has actually remained stubborn, and might rise as a result of his tariffs. This has gone down extremely poorly in the White House, where officials are counting down the weeks until Powell's term as chair ends next May. Data released on Friday fundamentally changed the way US policymakers and politicians think about the economy. Until then, many inside the Fed thought everything was broadly ticking over nicely – and Trump administration officials claimed they were overseeing a boom in activity. But July's employment report revealed far fewer jobs were created that month than economists had expected, and revised down estimates for May and June by an astonishing 258,000. Job creation has stalled. 'Look, this jobs report isn't ideal,' Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House council of economic advisers, told CNN, before suggesting that fading uncertainty around trade and fiscal policy would lead to significant improvement. 'It's all going to get much, much better from here,' he added.
