It should be obvious to one and all that Trump intends and expects to demolish the entire White House and have his rich looting friends build him whatever he wants. No lawful means exists in this disintegrating country for opponents to prevent it.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Labor Line
October 2025_________________________
Labor line has job news and commentary with a one stop short cut for America’s job markets and job related data including the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This month's job and employment summary data are below and this month's inflation data is below that.
The latest blog entry The Trump Recession Watch
Click here for a review of the Blog author's new book The Fight Over Jobs, 1877-2024 The book is available for $19.99 as a special offer to bloggers from this site Buy the Book
The Establishment Job Report with data released September 5, 2025.
Current Job and Employment Data
Jobs
Total Non-Farm Establishment Jobs up 22,000 to 159,539,000
Total Private Jobs up
38,000 to 135,972,000
Total Government Employment down 16,000 to 23,568,000 Note
Civilian Non-Institutional Population up 216 thousand to 274,001,000
Civilian Labor Force up
436 thousand to 170,778,000
Employed up 288
thousand to 163,394,000
Employed Men up
539 thousand to 86,347,000
Employed Women
down 252 thousand to 76,508,000
Unemployed up
148 thousand to 7,384,000
Not in the Labor Force down 220 thousand to 103,223,000
Unemployment Rate
went up .1% to 4.3% 7,384/170,778
Labor Force Participation Rate went up .1% to 62.3%, or 170,778/274,001
Prices and inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Consumers was up by a monthly average of 2.9 percent for 2024.
The CPI September report for the 12 months ending with August shows the
CPI for All Items was up 2.9%
CPI for Food and Beverages was up 3.1%
CPI for Housing was up 4.0%
CPI for Apparel was up .2%
CPI for Transportation including gasoline was up 0.9%
CPI for Medical Care was up 3.4%
CPI for Recreation was up 2.3%
CPI for Education was up 3.5%
CPI for Communication was down 2.1%
This Month’s Establishment Jobs Press Report
In the 29 years I have maintained this website the Bureau of Labor Statistics has never missed a reporting date until now. The October Report is finished but threats and intimidation keep it from publication. The ADP report is for the private sector but uses a different method of producing data and so cannot be directly compared to the Establishment Survey of the BLS. Given the battering the Trump people are doing the economy there is no reason to think jobs will be increasing in the future.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics published its September report for jobs in August. The civilian population increased by 216 thousand while 220 thousand others returned to the labor force looking for work. There were 288 thousand of that number that found employment. The remaining 148 thousand of them did not find work, and remained unemployed. The large increase in the unemployed and moderate increase in the employed combined to increase the unemployment rate .1% to 4.3%. The participation rate increased .1% to 62.3 percent.Goods production decreased by 25
thousand jobs with job losses in all three subsectors. Natural resources dropped
6 thousand jobs, mostly in mining support jobs. In construction, heavy and
engineering construction had 2.3 thousand new jobs, but jobs in residential
specialty trade contractors and construction of buildings were both down
leaving a decrease of 7 thousand construction jobs. Manufacturing lost a net of
12 thousand jobs. Durable goods employment dropped 19 thousand jobs with motor
vehicle manufacturing down 14.5 thousand of the jobs; no durable goods
manufacturing sub sectors did well. Non-durable goods production was up a net
of 7 thousand jobs. Plastic and rubber product manufacturing had 4.3 thousand
jobs and food processing had 3.1 thousand new jobs among other small gains and
losses.
Government service employment decreased
a net of 16 thousand jobs with the federal government employment down 15
thousand jobs. State government jobs were down 12 thousand while local
government added 13 thousand jobs. State and local government jobs excluding
education decreased a net 4.3 thousand; state public education was down 6.1
thousand jobs, local government education was up 9.2 thousand jobs. Private
sector education lost 500 seasonally adjusted jobs, which brings the total of
education to a net increase of 2.6 thousand jobs.
Health care took first place again for
private service sector job gains with 47 thousand new jobs, down from last
month and lower than normal increases. All four of the health care subsectors did
have more jobs with ambulatory care adding 12.7 thousand jobs; hospitals added 8.8
thousand jobs; nursing and residential care were up 9.1 thousand jobs, a good
month for nursing and residential care. Social assistance services added a net
of 16.2 thousand jobs because individual and family services had 15.9 thousand new
jobs offset by a decline of jobs in vocational rehabilitation. The growth rate
for health care was down from last month to 2.40 percent, above the average of
2.23 percent per month of the last 15 years. For the last two months health
care has had more than 100 percent of job totals; the second time in 28 years
of Labor Line.
Trade, transportation and utilities had
a net of 2 thousand new jobs. Wholesale trade dropped sharply by 11.7 thousand
jobs, an ominous sign even though retail trade picked up 10.5 thousand jobs. In
retail, warehouse clubs and general merchandise stores added 9.1 thousand jobs and
clothing and clothing accessories added 6.2 thousand jobs, among other small retail
job losses. Transportation added a net of 3.6 thousand; couriers and messengers
added 3.7 thousand jobs but no other sub sector did well. Utilities lost 800
jobs.
Leisure and hospitality added 27.5
thousand jobs, modest but better than last month. Arts, entertainment and
recreation had 14.3 thousand of the jobs with accommodations and restaurants
adding 13.2 thousand more. Amusements, gambling and recreation had 12.7
thousand of these jobs. Restaurants had 11 thousand jobs, a small increase while
accommodations added 2.2 thousand of the new jobs.
Professional and business services had
yet another month of job losses, this month down 17 thousand jobs and a bigger
loss than the last two months. The professional and technical services
subsector was down 3.6 thousand jobs in a poor month; where management of
companies had just 300 more jobs. The third sub sector, administrative and
support services including waste management, lost 13.4 thousand jobs in another
poor month for support services.
Among professional and technical
services, management, scientific and technical consulting had 3 thousand new jobs.
Otherwise computer systems design and related services lost 3.3 thousand jobs and
no other professional services did well. Victims of the Trump onslaught, no
doubt. Among administrative support services, services to buildings and dwellings
were up 7.9 thousand jobs but offset by job losses in employment services and
temporary help services, down 11.8 thousand jobs, a third month for these job
losses. Business support services were down 4.4 thousand jobs.
Information
services dropped 5 thousand jobs. Motion picture and sound recordings lost 7.6
thousand jobs, more than last month’s job gain. No other information sub
sectors did well. Financial activities including real estate and rental and
leasing services lost 3 thousand jobs, after last month’s bigger gains. Finance
and insurance lost 4.7 thousand of the jobs. Insurance carriers were off 5.5 thousand
jobs. The real estate sub sector added 2.9 thousand jobs offset with rental and
leasing services, down by 1.6 thousand jobs. The category, other, had a net of 12
thousand new jobs: repair and maintenance services had 9.9 thousand new jobs, personal
and laundry services added 4.9 thousand jobs. The non-profit associations sub
sector lost 2.8 thousand jobs.
The
economy added 22 thousand jobs for August, a poor month. Establishment
employment in August was 159.540 million with an annual growth rate of just .17
percent, a fraction of what is necessary to sustain full employment. The total
of new establishment jobs has not been this low since the pandemic. The
increase in health care jobs exceeded the total of new jobs again this month; again,
the job data for health care illustrates the folly of political attacks on
health care. There were eight sub sectors with job losses and two more with
only one to three thousand new jobs. Professional jobs outside of health care continue
to decline. This month’s job total is 1.466 million above August a year ago and
3.119 million jobs above August two years ago. Both
are lower this month than last. Lower interest will be unlikely to offset the
depressing effect from tariffs and budget cuts. Nothing suggests private sector
employment will improve while the Trump administration actively pursues depressing
budget and tariff policies.
August Details
Non Farm Total +22
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Non-Farm employment for establishments increased from July by 22 thousand jobs for a(n) August total of 159.540 million. (Note 1 below) An increase of 22 thousand each month for the next 12 months represents an annual growth rate of +.17% The annual growth rate from a year ago beginning August 2024 was +.93%; the average annual growth rate from 5 years ago beginning August 2020 was +2.48%; from 15 years ago beginning August 2010 it was +1.35%. The high five year growth rate derives from the low Pandemic employment. America needs growth around 1.5 percent a year to keep itself employed.
Sector breakdown for 12 Sectors in 000’s of jobs
1. Natural Resources -6
Natural Resources jobs including logging and mining decreased 6 thousand from July with 609 thousand jobs in August. A decrease of 6 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -11.71 percent. Natural resource jobs were down 13 thousand from a year ago. Jobs in 2000 averaged around 600 thousand with little prospect for growth. This is the smallest of 12 major sectors of the economy with .4 percent of establishment jobs.
2. Construction -7
Construction jobs were down 7 thousand from July with 8.295 million jobs in August. A decrease of 7 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -1.01 percent. Construction jobs are up 58 thousand for the 12 months just ended. The growth rate for the last 15 years is 2.75%. Construction jobs rank 9th among the 12 sectors with 5.2 percent of non-farm employment.
3. Manufacturing -12
Manufacturing jobs were down 12 thousand from July with 12.722 million jobs in August. A decrease of 12 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -1.13 percent. Manufacturing jobs were down for the last 12 months by 78 thousand. The growth rate for the last 15 years is +.64%. Manufacturing ranks 6th among 12 major sectors in the economy with 8.0 percent of establishment jobs.
4. Trade, Transportation & Utility +2
Trade, both wholesale and retail, transportation and utility employment were up 2 thousand jobs from July with 29.082 million jobs in August. An increase of 2 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.08 percent. Jobs are up by 170 thousand for last 12 months. Growth rates for the last 15 years are +1.11 percent. Jobs in these sectors rank first as the biggest sectors with combined employment of 18.2 percent of total establishment employment.
5. Information Services -5
Information Services jobs were down 5 thousand from July with 2.926 million jobs in August. (Note 2 below) A decrease of 5 thousand jobs for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -2.05 percent. Jobs are down by 3 thousand for the last 12 months. Information jobs reached 3.7 million at the end of 2000, but started dropping, reaching 3 million by 2004 but has stayed close to 3.0 million in the last decade. Information Services is a small sector ranking 11th of 12 with 1.8 percent of establishment jobs.
6. Financial Activities -3
Financial Activities jobs were down by 3 thousand jobs from July to 9.260 million in August. A decrease of 3 thousand jobs for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -.39 percent. Jobs are up 80 thousand for the last 12 months. (Note 3 below) This sector also includes real estate as well as real estate lending. The 15 year growth rate is +1.25 percent. Financial activities rank 8th of 12 with 5.8 percent of establishment jobs.
7. Business and Professional Services -17
Business and Professional Service jobs went down 17 thousand from July to 22.536 million in August. A decrease of 17 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -.90 percent. Jobs are down 55 thousand for the last 12 months. Note 4 The annual growth rate for the last 15 years was +1.99 percent. It ranks as 2nd among the 12 sectors now. It was 2nd in 1993, when manufacturing was bigger and third rank now with 14.2 percent of establishment employment.
8. Education including public and private +3
Education jobs were up 3 thousand jobs from July at 14.846 million in August. An increase of 3 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.21 percent. These include public and private education. Jobs are up 115 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 5) The 15 year growth rate equals +.62 percent. Education ranks 5th among 12 sectors with 9.3 percent of establishment jobs.
9. Health Care +47
Health care jobs were up 47 thousand from July to 23.454 million in August. An increase of 47 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +2.40 percent. Jobs are up 832 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 6) The health care long term 15-year growth rate has been +2.23 percent lately compared to +2.40 percent for this month’s jobs. Health care ranks 2nd of 12 with 14.5 percent of establishment jobs.
10. Leisure and hospitality +28
Leisure and hospitality jobs were up 28 thousand from July to 17.050 million in August. (note 7) An increase of 28 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +1.97 percent. Jobs are up 232 thousand for the last 12 months. More than 80 percent of leisure and hospitality are accommodations and restaurants assuring that most of the new jobs are in restaurants. Leisure and hospitality ranks 4th of 12 with 10.7 percent of establishment jobs. It moved up to 7th from 4th in the pandemic decline.
11. Other +12
Other Service jobs, which include repair, maintenance, personal services and non-profit organizations were up 12 thousand from July to 6.050 million in August. An increase of 12 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +2.38 percent. Jobs are up 75 thousand for the last 12 months. (Note 8) Other services had +.86 percent growth for the last 15 years. These sectors rank 10th of 12 with 3.8 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.
12. Government, excluding education -19
Government service employment went down 19 thousand from July
at 12.721 million jobs in August. A decrease of 19 thousand each month for the
next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -1.82 percent. Jobs are up 54
thousand for the last 12 months. (note
9) Government jobs excluding education tend to increase slowly with a
15 year growth rate of +.36 percent. Government, excluding education, ranks 7th
of 12 with 8.0 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.
Sector Notes__________________________
(1) The total cited above is non-farm establishment employment that counts jobs and not people. If one person has two jobs then two jobs are counted. It excludes agricultural employment and the self employed. Out of a total of people employed agricultural employment typically has about 1.5 percent, the self employed about 6.8 percent, the rest make up wage and salary employment. Jobs and people employed are close to the same, but not identical numbers because jobs are not the same as people employed: some hold two jobs. Remember all these totals are jobs. back
(2) Information Services is part of the new North American Industry Classification System(NAICS). It includes firms or establishments in publishing, motion picture & sound recording, broadcasting, Internet publishing and broadcasting, telecommunications, ISPs, web search portals, data processing, libraries, archives and a few others.back
(3) Financial Activities includes deposit and non-deposit credit firms, most of which are still known as banks, savings and loan and credit unions, but also real estate firms and general and commercial rental and leasing.back
(4) Business and Professional services includes the professional areas such as legal services, architecture, engineering, computing, advertising and supporting services including office services, facilities support, services to buildings, security services, employment agencies and so on.back
(5) Education includes private and public education. Therefore education job totals include public schools and colleges as well as private schools and colleges. back
(6) Health care includes ambulatory care, private hospitals, nursing and residential care, and social services including child care. back
(7) Leisure and hospitality has establishment with arts, entertainment and recreation which has performing arts, spectator sports, gambling, fitness centers and others, which are the leisure part. The hospitality part has accommodations, motels, hotels, RV parks, and full service and fast food restaurants. back
(8) Other is a smorgasbord of repair and maintenance services, especially car repair, personal services and non-profit services of organizations like foundations, social advocacy and civic groups, and business, professional, labor unions, political groups and political parties. back
(9) Government job totals include federal, state, and local government administrative work but without education jobs. back
top
Notes
Jobs are not the same as employment because jobs are counted once but one person could have two jobs adding one to employment but two to jobs. Also the employment numbers include agricultural workers, the self employed, unpaid family workers, household workers and those on unpaid leave. Jobs are establishment jobs and non-other. back
top
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Coming Up Short
Robert B. Reich, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2025), $30.00, ISBN 9780953803288
In his newest book, Coming Up Short, author Robert Reich offers readers a unique combination of personal memoir, U.S. history and policy discussion condensed into 350 pages. Born in 1946 he grew up as a founding member of the boomer generation. He lived through the Civil Rights and Vietnam War era while a student and then took an active role in politics, serving in judicial and administrative appointments during the Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations. While he never held political office, he made an unsuccessful run for governor of Massachusetts and served as an informal advisor to political candidates and office holders during his years as a professor in academia.
The narrative follows a rough chronology through his life divided into six parts that serve as chapters. Since he met bullies growing up in South Salem, New York and attending Lewisboro elementary school, standing up to America’s rich corporate bullies becomes a theme guiding the narrative. Education at Dartmouth College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law School and his work as a clerk to a federal judge, Assistant Solicitor General to Robert Bork, policy director at the Federal Trade Commission, and Secretary of Labor allowed him to meet dozens of future and current politicians and write opinion informed by personal experience.
Reich expresses his support for equal rights and social justice with the stories of his encounters with dozens of politicians and celebrities he met during his career. Boomers especially get a chance to reconsider old events in a new perspective. In 1965, as Dartmouth class president, he met Hillary Rodham, then a student at Wellesley College, and then introduced her to Bill Clinton six years later while they and Clarence Thomas were all Yale law students. While still a student he was an intern for Robert Kennedy, then volunteered for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign, traveled to England with Bill Clinton to be Rhodes scholars and figure out how to evade the Vietnam draft. He met Robert Bork while his law school student and then worked for him when Bork was Solicitor General. A 22-page saga of Bork’s career and the origins of the term “Borked” follow. Reich suggests Bork deserved better than he got from the press and Congress.
Reich titles Part III, The Giant U-Turn, that identifies a 1971 letter of attorney and later Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommending a shift of corporate America to “mobilize for political combat.” Before describing some of the resulting abuses and characteristics of corporate misconduct, Reich describes his work with the Carter administration and defends President Carter as not as bad as we think. In two other sections he discusses his relationship with John Kenneth Galbraith and a professorial tenure battle of his wife while at Harvard.
Part IV has eighty pages, the longest in the book, which Reich entitles Failure. It describes his work as a Democratic party advisor to Senator Gary Hart, Governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton. After Clinton wins the presidential election he becomes Secretary of Labor, which he hoped would allow him to pursue an agenda to benefit the working class. Reich describes his failed efforts as Secretary of Labor by narrating his bureaucratic policy battles with Secretary Robert Rubin and with stories of Alan Greenspan and others.
One of his failures occurred at a Bridgestone tire plant in Oklahoma where a failure to install safety cutoff switches had killed and injured workers and remained as a risk to injure more. Reich responded to the failure by seeking an emergency order to require installation of cutoff switches and imposed a $7.5 million fine. The company denied all wrong doing and threatened to close the plant. Reich backed down: “The bullies won. I am haunted by our failure. All I had considered was the moral superiority of my position and the thrill of the spectacle. I hadn’t imagined Bridgestone would take hostage the livelihoods of more than a thousand people.” He was haunted because he made the wrong decision to give in! He left the job at the end of Clinton’s first term to spend more time with his kids; a claim we can believe but readers might conclude, as I did, that he was worn out with Bill Clinton and his Wall Street tilt.
In the gathering storm, the title for Part V, readers get subtitled commentary on episodes of misconduct and cowardice by individuals in positions of leadership. Reich quotes from a speech he made to the Democratic Leadership Council where he warned them of a two tiered society of winners and losers. After the warning come stories of people who promoted or acquiesced in the two-tier society: Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barak Obama, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and others.
About midway through Part V Reich switches to the aftermath of the Bush recession to discuss the tea partiers, occupiers and other angry people.” There is special mention of the cowardice of Clinton and Obama: “Both Clinton and Obama stood by as corporations busted trade unions, backbone of the working class.” Recall Obama did not prosecute the Bush era banking looters. Reich recounts visits to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina and the anti-establishment rage he found there. He goes on to discuss the end of the American Dream and the end of the Republican party as a political party. The final subsection offers the five elements that make fascism. He finishes with “Americans can preserve our democracy and share our prosperity only by attacking and countering concentrated wealth and the political corruption that accompanies it.”
Part VI, The Long Game, ends the book with a smorgasbord of personal stories, a few suggestions, and a tiny slice of optimism. One story was his failed campaign for Massachusetts governor. As a political advisor he thought he knew elective politics but running for office taught him the essential personality traits he does not have: narcissist, extrovert, method actor, thick skin, and also avoid consultants and be respectful of media. He concluded “Running for office made me even more keenly aware of the role and responsibility of mainstream media in a democracy in danger of coming apart.”
Other stories describe an aborted appearance with “Dr. Phil,” his friendship and admiration for Bernie Sanders, the pleasure of seeing and remembering some of his students. The last pages have some broad suggestions for restoring capitalism, reclaiming patriotism, creating better workplaces, and sharing profits. The book ends with thoughts on growing old, 79, and the need for the younger generation to take over and restore democracy.
The Reich book is built on the same ethical principles as similar books and commentary by others like Arlie Russel Hochschild, Heather Cox Richardson, and recent books of Steven Brill and David Leonhardt. However, his 60 year career in politics and academia required him to confront an unusually long list of political disputes and meet an unusually long list of people who became colleagues, friends and adversaries. Unlike political memoirs in my experience Reich agonizes over his failures. Unlike corporate media he calls evil by its true name: campaign finance is bribery, Trump Republicans are liars, enablers and accessories to crimes against the constitution. Anita Hill was right, Justice Alito is the most cognitively dishonest justice since Roger Taney, Democrats Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Barak Obama are cowards; the Democratic party has failed for decades to protect the working class, and more.
In a section titled “My
Illicit Affair” Reich describes his friendship with Republican Senator Allan
Simpson of Wyoming, a political opponent he admired for “his sincerity and
passion for democracy.” Still friends in
2016, Reich asked why more Republicans weren’t speaking out against Trump.
“They’re scared,” he
said.
“Scared of Trump?”
“No,” he said,
lowering his voice. “They’re scared of the kind of people Trump is attracting
and what he’s bringing out in them.”
“You mean they’re scared of being physically harmed?”
“Friend it only takes one nut case?”
Enough said.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
