US president Donald Trump is back with his rant against Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell. He reiterated the demand to slash rates after the August jobs data got released.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should have lowered rates long ago. As usual, he’s ‘Too Late!’ Trump posted to his Truth Social platform on Friday, September 5.
For months, Trump has been urging the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, claiming they are unnecessarily hindering economic growth by keeping borrowing costs too high. He has attempted to put more political pressure on the central bank.
Recent disappointing job data has raised the likelihood that the Fed will reduce interest rates at its upcoming September meeting. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated that a rate cut is probable, and market expectations align with this forecast.
The Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) on Friday reported that nonfarm payrolls grew by just 22,000 in August, falling short of analysts’ expectations of a 75,000-job increase.
The BLS attributed job gains in healthcare to be counterbalanced by losses in federal government employment, as well as in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
While July’s employment numbers were revised upwards to 79,000 from an initial 73,000, June’s figures were revised downward by 27,000, from a gain of 14,000 to a loss of 13,000. The national unemployment rate also ticked up slightly to 4.3%, from 4.2% in the previous month.
In early August, BLS reported a disappointing 73,000 job additions in July, falling short of the expected 110,000. The agency also revised job numbers for May and June downward by a total of 258,000.
These figures led to an accusations of data manipulation toward the end of Joe Biden’s presidency, leading President Donald Trump to announce the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Truth Social.
This was criticised by lawmakers, economists, and former BLS officials, who warned that such actions could undermine the independence of the agency and erode trust in future economic reports. Shortly after, Trump revealed plans to nominate E.J. Antoni, Chief Economist at the Heritage Foundation, to replace McEntarfer.