U.S. President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Donald Trump is now arguing that the uptick in the national unemployment rate is simply a byproduct of him enacting his agenda. One highly regarded economist is crying foul.
On Friday, Trump posted to his Truth Social account that the 4.6 percent unemployment rate — which is the highest in four years — could be attributed to his hollowing out of government agencies. He boasted that his administration is "reducing the Government Workforce by numbers that have never been seen before."
"100% OF OUR NEW JOBS ARE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR! I could reduce Unemployment to 2% overnight by just hiring people into the Federal Government, even though those Jobs are not necessary," Trump wrote in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters. "I wish the Fake News would report the 4.5% correctly. What I am doing is the only way to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump also insisted during a recent White House event that the higher unemployment rate still "sounds positive" and is "quite a low number." He added that "government jobs are way down."
However, economist Claudia Sahm – who is the namesake of the Sahm Rule used to predict economic recessions — wrote on her X account that she wanted to "raise a few issues with" Trump's claim. She cited figures from the Federal Reserve showing that the number of jobless workers between Trump's inauguration and November of 2025 had increased well beyond the number of federal workers who had been fired.
"There are 982,000 more unemployed people in Nov 2025 than in Jan 2025," Sahm wrote. "There are 271,000 fewer federal government employees."
"982,000 [is greater than] 271,000. More than 3 times more unemployed," she added.
As CBS News reported this week, the uptick in the unemployment rate can be largely attributed to the manufacturing and hospitality sectors slowing down hiring. Heather Long, who is the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told the outlet that Trump's policies have directly led to the higher unemployment rate, along with artificial intelligence replacing many entry-level white-collar workers.
"Businesses are not hiring as they adjust to tariffs, uncertain conditions and AI," Long said. "The result is about 700,000 more unemployed Americans than there were a year ago."