U.S. job growth has slowed down because of immigration deportations, but “in terms of Americans having jobs, we’re doing quite well,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Some people are wondering, is this a supply issue because immigration has slowed down, or is it a demand issue where businesses aren’t hiring as much?” Bessent said Wednesday during an appearance on CNBC.
“Well, I think it’s a couple of things,” the secretary replied. “I think with the securing of the border, and then maybe between deportations and voluntary deportations, we’ve seen two million people leave the workforce. And, I think in terms of Americans having jobs, we’re doing quite well.”
The U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, the highest since 2021.
A Moody’s Analytics chief economist Sunday said private reports show the job market “is getting weaker and weaker.”
“The bottom line is that not having the BLS jobs data is a serious problem for assessing the health of the economy and making good policy decisions,” he said in a post on X in reference to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“But the private sources of jobs data are admirably filling the information gap, at least for now. And this data shows that the job market is weak and getting weaker.”
BLS data has not been released due to the government shutdown. Some private data sources suggest weakness: for example, the ADP private payroll report showed a drop of 32,000 jobs in the private sector in September.
The Fed’s Beige Book, which collects business sentiment from across Federal Reserve districts, describes recent hiring activity as “stagnant.” Employers are cautious, neither aggressively hiring nor cutting widely.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said U.S. economic activity was little changed and that employment was largely stable in recent weeks but noted emerging signs of weakness including more layoffs and middle- and lower-income households pulling back on spending.
“In most Districts, more employers reported lowering headcount through layoffs and attrition, with contacts citing weaker demand, elevated economic uncertainty, and, in some cases, increased investment in artificial intelligence technologies,” the Fed said in its latest “Beige Book” report, a compendium of survey results, interviews, and other qualitative data from the 12 regional Fed banks.
“Nevertheless, labor supply in the hospitality, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing sectors was reportedly strained in several Districts due to recent changes to immigration policies.”
Newsmax wires contributed to this report.
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