'Significantly worse than expected': Tanking jobs report stuns CNN analyst

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'Significantly worse than expected': Tanking jobs report stuns CNN analyst
FILE PHOTO: Job seekers stand in line to meet with prospective employers at a career fair in New York City, October 24, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

The U.S. economy lost more jobs last month than expected amid a summer hiring slump, marking a sharp slowdown from the month before.

The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, a sharp miss from economists' expectations of a 90,000-job gain, according to a new jobs report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Frankly, it's not good," said CNN's John Berman, "and significantly worse than expected."

CNN senior reporter David Goldman agreed, saying the July figure marks a significant deterioration from June, when the economy added an already-weak 60,000 jobs.

The drop-off is stark when viewed against hiring trends of the past five years, Goldman added, pointing to a "significant clip" of job growth in 2022 and 2023 that has now reversed, with several months over the past year showing net job losses.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, but Goldman cautioned that isn't necessarily positive news.

"You usually don't see the unemployment rate fall unless people are dropping out of the workforce," he said, suggesting the decline may reflect discouraged workers exiting the labor market rather than genuine improvement.

Wages present another concern. Goldman said pay growth has fallen below the 3.5 percent inflation rate, reversing a longer stretch in which wages outpaced price increases. "Inflation is once again eating your paycheck," he said.

Health care remained the one consistently strong hiring sector, but Goldman said "22,000 jobs is not going to cut it" given that nearly every other part of the economy is shedding positions.

The report immediately rattled markets, with bond rates falling as investors recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve. Goldman said the weak jobs data combined with elevated inflation leaves the Fed in a bind, with diminishing odds of an interest rate cut in September.

He described the market reaction as counterintuitive – falling odds of a rate cut were being read as a positive signal for investors, even though the underlying cause is labor-market weakness.

"That's good news if you're an investor," Goldman said. "It's not great news if you're looking for a job right now."

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'Of course it was!' Critics howl as JD Vance named as Trump's 'national security' threat

New reporting that Vice President JD Vance was behind one of the stories that the White House used to ban Politico is sparking ridicule.

On Wednesday, Status reported that Vance was the "senior administration official" cited in a Politico article about an Iran peace deal. In a letter to Politico, the White House cited the article as one of six stories justifying Trump's media ban and wrote that the information in the article had "threatened national security."

When news came out that Vance was the White House's anonymous source, online commentators had their fun and took jabs at the vice president.

"The call was coming from inside the couch," cracked MeidasTouch, the political news network, referring to an internet joke about Vance's supposed love of furniture.

"You're doing great, J.D.," former GOP strategist Rick Wilson wryly posted.

"Hahahahahhahaha!!!" laughed former GOP strategist Tara Setmayer. "Of course it was!"

"JD is going to go down in such ignominy when the bill comes due," predicted journalist Pedro Gonzalez. "He's going to change his name again just to try to be a little less recognizable, but the stink won't wash out."

"This dude..." national opinion columnist Sophia Nelson chided.

"Lmao," wrote podcaster and journalist Matthew Sitman.

" JD Vance isn't good at this," suggested political analyst and podcaster Andrew Donaldson.

The White House Rapid Response account responded to a post by Natalie Korach, the Status journalist who broke the news, and tried to downplay the revelation.

"For more context, the White House holds regular press briefings to ensure accurate information is provided — but even then the media lies and peddles misinformation," the account attacked. "That article was included to highlight the White House going to great lengths to provide important access, only to have it distorted and manipulated by the propagandists in the media."

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Disturbing video of ICE detaining a US citizen stuns ex-DHS lawyer: 'Troubling'

Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area roughed up a U.S. citizen they mistakenly wanted to arrest — then left him injured on the ground. It's the latest incident in an area where ICE has been sporadically terrorizing communities ever since President Donald Trump took office.

The incident startled John Sandweg, former acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, who broke down the situation on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

"I want to start with what happened in Illinois," said Cooper, asking him to assess the situation.

"You know, Anderson, difficult to tell," said Sandweg. For starters, he said, "Who was the individual they were targeting? Who was the guy they mistook here? Is this someone with a violent criminal history? Why did we have such an aggressive response from the officers?"

Regardless of the answer to all of these questions, Sandweg continued, the force applied by agents in the encounter seems to be a real problem.

"This is part of what we've seen across the board, where we've seen this erosion of accountability, where there's a rush to defend these agents," said Sandweg. "And again, case after case after case where we've seen a very aggressive tone taken by the officers. It doesn't always appear justified."

The bottom line, he added, is that "this is a variety of factors contributing to this erosion of culture where we're seeing these incidents keep recurring."

"It is another troubling circumstance where there are real questions about the use of force," he said.

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Hollow core of Trump's 'preposterous' press ban exposed by shock leak disclosure: expert

A CNN analysis keyed in on the latest bombshell revelation about a White House leaker to tear into President Donald Trump's media ban.

On Wednesday, former federal prosecutor and columnist Jeffrey Toobin spoke with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper about the hearing regarding Trump's media ban. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly was still expected to rule on a temporary restraining order sought by lawyers for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, who were kicked out of the White House by the ban.

Cooper brought up that the Department of Justice argued to keep the ban in place by citing national security concerns. Toobin said, "It's understandable why the White House is trying this, because the courts are at their most deferential to the executive branch when it comes to national security."

However, Toobin tore into the DOJ's and White House's national security argument and noted how they've undercut it themselves. He mentioned reporting that came out shortly after Wednesday's hearing and while Kelly still hadn't ruled on the case.

In a letter made public through a court filing on Tuesday, the White House justified banning Politico by citing an article with high-level information about the Iran war and characterized it as a leak that endangered national security. However, Status reported on Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance was responsible for leaking the information in question to Politico.

Toobin brought it up as he ripped the DOJ's national security argument, saying, "One of the articles that the White House is complaining about, the source for that was JD Vance, the vice president of the United States."

He continued, "So, they're trying to kick Politico out of the White House for a story where the source was JD Vance. I mean, it just shows how preposterous this argument is."

The Washington Post noted that the White House also called the information that Politico reported "misinformation," even though it came from Vance.

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