Yesterday, whoever was manning the House Republicans’ BlueSky account decided it was a great idea to brag about the newly released September 2025 jobs report.
They probably shouldn’t have.
For context, economists were expecting roughly 50,000 new jobs – a low bar for a president who proclaimed “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created“.
The economy under our new Messiah did deliver jobs numbers that were above expectations… but when expectations are set inches from the floor, it doesn’t mean much. And there are alarm bells in the latest report that the GOP isn’t touting:
- the unemployment rate continues to creep upward.
- the gains in jobs numbers reported in July and August were revised downward.
- most of the new job activity was concentrated in health care.
Treating the ill isn’t the greatest thing to pin economic growth on, but at least we have Robert F. Kennedy Jr acting as Secretary of Health & Human Services to insure health care providers keep busy over the next few years.
How underwhelming are these September job numbers? Since Donald Trump loves to cherry-pick whatever data makes him look most impressive – remember the “I won more votes than any sitting president ever” line he repeated ad nauseam to avoid acknowledging that he lost the 2020 election? – I decided to look at how September 2025 compares to every other September jobs report this century.
Septembers underwhelming jobs numbers
Trump’s September 2025 jobs numbers rank only 15th out of the last 25 Septembers. Not first by a long shot, not in the top five or even in the top ten. Yet, the GOP is somehow trying to spin this as proof of an economic resurgence.
Full disclosure: the best September jobs report of the century DID occur under Trump, but it occurred in the Covid era, when employers were rushing to re-hire right after laying everyone off a couple months earlier.
Alternative Facts
This is the recurring theme of both Trump administrations: create “alternative facts” that the unquestioningly loyal MAGA base will latch onto, and then repeat them so many times in an attempt to make the rest of us believe as well, despite originally knowing otherwise. It’s a political operation that would make George Orwell proud. Or spin in his grave.
The Party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command – George Orwell, 1984
Spinning a lackluster jobs report may be the least offensive news to be touted by Trumps sycophants, but it still demonstrates how freely Trump and his GOP cohorts are able to operate in a fact-free zone.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.