The U.S. added only 22,000 jobs last month, showing cracks in the labor market

The job market downshifted significantly over the summer.

U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs in August, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department, while revised figures showed a net loss of jobs in June for the first time since 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.

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Overall the labor market has shown little growth since April, and the unemployment rate inched up in August to 4.3%.

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The monthly employment report is the latest sign of weakness in the job market. It comes after President Trump abruptly fired the Labor Department official who oversaw the jobs data after a similarly disappointing report a month ago.

For the first time in more than four years, there are more people looking for work in the U.S. than job openings.

Factories and construction companies continued to cut workers in August, while a modest increase in health care jobs was partially offset by continued cuts in the federal workforce. The federal government has shed some 97,000 jobs since the beginning of the year, and government payrolls are expected to shrink further in the coming months when severance payments to employees who took buyouts end.

Weakness in the job market is likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, when policymakers meet later this month. Investors widely expect the Fed to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point.