Trumpism Works… at Putting Americans Out of Work

King Don continues to succeed in his effort to kill American jobs:

The U.S. economy gained 64,000 jobs in November, but lost 105,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%; it was 4.4% in September and 4.2% a year ago.

“It’s a pretty grinchy report,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. “We’ve lost jobs in three out of the last seven months, and the average job growth has been 17,000 jobs per month, which is miserably low.”

One of the key events that makes this data headline-worthy is the fact that it reflected government buyouts, which allowed federal workers to be paid through the end of September  [Sabri Ben-Achour, “A ‘Grinchy’ November Jobs Report as Government Layoffs Hit Labor Market,” Marketplace, 2025.12.16].

Federal job losses leading to a huge net job loss in October—that’s Trumpism at work. So is the job-dampening effect of tariffs and other unpredictable policies:

American companies are mostly holding onto the employees they have. But they’re reluctant to hire new ones as they struggle to assess how to use artificial intelligence and how to adjust to President Donald Trump’s unpredictable policies, especially his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world.

The uncertainty leaves jobseekers struggling to find work or even land interviews [Paul Wiseman, “The US Gained 64,000 Jobs in November but Lost 105,000 in October; Unemployment Rate at 4.6%,” AP, 2025.12.16].

One clearly predictable result of Trumpism is that it hurts U.S. manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs shrank during Trump’s first term and grew during President Biden’s administration. We put Trump back in the White House, and sure enough, despite his persistent promises that he’ll make manufacturing boom, manufacturing jobs are shrinking again, now for seven straight months:

Even manufacturing, the industry the president’s tariffs are designed to boost, is cutting jobs. Manufacturing employment fell by 5,000 in November to the lowest level since March 2022 during the rebound from Covid-19.

In fact, manufacturing employment is down seven months in a row, each month since Trump rolled out his “Liberation Day” tariffs that rocked Wall Street and alarmed Corporate America.

…Although high tariffs on US imports are designed to reshore manufacturing jobs to America, that can take time – if it occurs at all.

“Reshoring doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t even happen in six or seven months. It takes several years,” said Michael Reid, senior US economist at RBC.

Trump has slapped tariffs on critical imports US manufacturers need, including steel, aluminum and copper.

Uncertainty over trade policy and rising prices on imports that blue-collar workers use to make goods are hurting demand for workers.

“When input costs go up, one of the easiest things to do is to cut labor,” said Reid [Nayeli Jaramillo-Piata and Matt Egan, “Trump Promised a Blue-Collar Jobs Boom. The Opposite Is Happening,” CNN, 2025.12.17].

Health care remains a pillar of the labor market, making up over 70% of the net jobs added in November, but Trump and his Republican lackeys are about to push job losses in that sector, too, by taking insurance away from millions of Americans:

But even though there is plenty of hiring going on in health care and social assistance, Kate Bahn, chief economist at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said there’s not quite as much now as there was a year or two ago.

“It is adding fewer jobs each month, while the overall labor market is also slowing down. So it’s a little concerning,” she said.

And there’s more to be concerned about looking ahead, with the enhanced subsidies for ACA insurance expiring and Medicaid cuts looming, said Andrew Stettner, director of economy and jobs at The Century Foundation.

“Fewer people will have health insurance next year. So that means, you know, some of this robust growth in health care, we’re seeing it flatten out,” he said.

And the biggest cuts to Medicaid won’t even phase in for another year or so.

“So there’s some real risks to health care jobs over the next few years,” said Stettner. “It really is going to be negative for people’s health.”

And, he said, for the economy [Samantha Fields, “In a Slowing Job Market, Health Care and Social Assistance Are Still Two Bright Spots,” Marketplace, 2025.12.16].

It’s inconceivable that an American President would want to kill American jobs… but we did elect a guy who rooted his political ascent in the joy he took in publicly telling people, “You’re fired!”