Two months before the midterm elections, Donald Trump can sell some good news to Americans. The labor market responded better than expected last August, with the creation of 162,000 jobs, according to data released this Friday by the United States Department of Labor. The agency has also revised upward the data for June and July, with 55,000 new jobs.
The president reacted immediately. True to his style, he took advantage of the data release to praise himself. “Excellent employment figures have just been announced that double and triple all estimates (except mine) and you haven’t seen anything yet!” he wrote on his social network, Truth. In passing, he sent a message to the new Federal Reserve chairman, Kevin Warsh, to lower interest rates, something the head of the U.S. central bank does not seem inclined to do.
The data released this Friday show that the unemployment rate remained stable at 4.1%. Employment increased in food services and beverage establishments, as well as in the state-dependent education sector. At the same time, the information sector lost jobs.
Job creation is a relief for Trump, who had seen bad economic news both on prices and growth in recent weeks, just before elections that will define the second half of his last term as president.
The war in Iran, with the consequent energy crisis, is showing that it reduces growth capacity and drives up prices. The world power’s economy slowed in the second quarter of the year, with a gross domestic product advance of 0.4%, one-tenth less than at the start of 2026. This figure surprised analysts negatively, who had expected activity to hold steady. In annualized terms (projected over the year), growth was 1.5%, compared to 2.1% recorded between January and March.
Inflation also does not bring good news to Trump and his economic team. The shopping basket continues to become more expensive in the country at a faster pace than desired by the authorities. The consumer price index (CPI) grew in July to 3.4% compared to the same period last year, which is only one-tenth less than the previous month. These data led the Federal Reserve chairman to hint at the Jackson Hole central bankers’ meeting that he might raise interest rates against Trump’s wishes.
