Workers Were Promised More Factory Jobs—They’ve Lost 12,000 in August Instead

Tariffs were supposed to bring back manufacturing jobs: instead, the U.S. has lost 12,000 over the past month.

August was the fourth straight month of declines for manufacturing jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, as part of a report that showed an overall slump in the job market. Manufacturing employment is down 78,000 since last August, and there are now fewer people working in the sector than at any time since March 2022.

Economists have cited President Donald Trump’s campaign of raising import taxes as a major reason for the slowdown. That’s the exact opposite of Trump’s stated goal for tariffs, which are supposed to encourage consumers to buy American and companies to build factories on U.S. soil by making imports more expensive.

“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country,” Trump said in April when he announced a broad swath of tariffs against most U.S. trading partners.

Instead, manufacturers and consumers alike have been financially squeezed by the tariffs, as they face higher prices for parts and materials brought in from overseas. Surveys show manufacturing businesses are slowing down hiring amid higher costs for materials and lower demand for their products.

“It’s a jobs recession,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, posted on social media. “The goods side of the economy, including manufacturing, mining, and construction, is losing a significant number of jobs, as is the federal government.”

The slump is a major setback for Trump’s efforts to bring back factory jobs.

“Trump’s blue-collar renaissance is clearly not happening,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a commentary.