Hoyer Statement on August Jobs Report

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) released the following statement today on the August jobs report: 

"The August jobs report reflects the same alarming slowdown in the job market we started to see the previous month. In August, just 22,000 jobs were added to the economy, and unemployment ticked up to 4.3%. From rising costs caused by Trump's tariffs to the trillions of dollars of additional debt from Republicans' massive new tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, the American economy is flashing red lights as a product of this administration's disastrous polices. American families are paying the price through higher costs on everyday goods.

"These weak jobs numbers come on the heels of the recent revision that 258,000 fewer jobs were created over the summer than previously thought. That poor showing led Trump to take rash, unprecedented action to fire the nonpartisan head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He made the completely baseless allegation that she somehow manipulated statistics that were compiled by a vast team of experts through a transparent, rigorously fact-checked process that Americans and our economy depend on. 

"Trump may lie, but the data doesn't. The American economy is in a perilous position, and the only person Trump ought to blame is himself. If Trump tries to manipulate economic data to his political advantage – as he has indicated he plans to do – he will find that it only adds to the uncertainty paralyzing our economy right now."