Since January 2025, the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement. A key rationale for the policy is that it will open up jobs for Americans by reducing competition from undocumented immigrants.
The way that number is derived is hilariously old fashioned and error prone. They don’t change it so they can plausibly put out month after month big job gains then quietly adjust it down later. Trump has been doing this the whole time with neutral to amazing job reports in most of the past 18 months yet, somehow, over those 18 months job gains are near zero.
It’s also worth noting that the official unemployment rate has been unbelievably stable. As in, no one should believe it. Workforce participation has dropped from 62.5% to 61.8% during Trump2 telling us unemployment has gone up, but they’re massaging one number to make another look good.
The way that number is derived is hilariously old fashioned and error prone. They don’t change it so they can plausibly put out month after month big job gains then quietly adjust it down later. Trump has been doing this the whole time with neutral to amazing job reports in most of the past 18 months yet, somehow, over those 18 months job gains are near zero.
It’s also worth noting that the official unemployment rate has been unbelievably stable. As in, no one should believe it. Workforce participation has dropped from 62.5% to 61.8% during Trump2 telling us unemployment has gone up, but they’re massaging one number to make another look good.