The U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday, beating economists expectations but marking a slowdown from previous months as President Donald Trump’s idiotic tariff policy takes a toll on the economy.
While the topline jobs number appeared to be fine, economists said a deeper look at the numbers paint a more concerning picture, as the past two month’s jobs numbers were revised downward, the labor force participation saw a steep decline, and certain industries actually lost jobs in May.
“Below the surface, there’s a lot more to worry about,” University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers wrote in a post on X. “April was revised down -30k, and March was revised down -95k. As a result, payrolls grew at only an average rate of +135k over the past three months, a notable slowing.”
What’s more, almost all of the job growth was from the health care and hospitality industries, according to the BLS data.
Meanwhile, industries like manufacturing—which Trump was seeking to boost with his tariffs—actually lost jobs in May.
The manufacturing industry shed 8,000 jobs, with machinery manufacturing losing the lion’s share of that number with 7,300 jobs shed.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney pointed that out to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Friday morning, to which Chavez-DeRemer had no response.
“Eight thousand manufacturing jobs were lost in May. That’s not what you wanted to see,” Varney said.
“Well, we’re certainly holding steady,” Chavez-DeRemer tried to argue, even though jobs in that sector were lost.
Ultimately, the professional and business services industry took the biggest hit, down 18,000 jobs in May with the biggest losses coming from administrative and support services (down 21,900 jobs), temporary help services (down 20,200 jobs), employment services (down 16,700 jobs), and scientific research and development (down 3,900 jobs). The retail industry also shed 6,500 jobs.
And in a sign the housing market is weakening, the residential contracting industry lost 11,000 jobs, while building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers lost 2,600 jobs.
“This is a tough market for job seekers, esp. recent grads. Companies are going to keep their ‘hiring freezes’ until the trade war gets resolved,” Heather Long, the chief economist for the Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a post on X.
“This is an ‘abundance of caution’ economy,” Long added. “Companies outside healthcare and restaurants are hesitant to hire. Temporary help jobs are being slashed. Professional/biz services aren’t hiring. Manufacturing is cutting jobs. Even retail is shedding jobs.”