""This reflects the direct effects of the tariffs on manufacturing, transportation and distribution, and ag-related businesses, which are steadily losing jobs, as well as the indirect uncertainty hit to hiring by most other businesses," he explained."
""Other factors are certainly at play, including highly restrictive immigration policies, DOGE cuts, and artificial intelligence; however, the global trade war's fingerprints are all over the ailing job market," Zandi added."
""Thus, the fastest way to boost the job market would be for the Supreme Court to declare the reciprocal tariffs unlawful and for lawmakers to let them become a thing of the past.""
Payrolls rose by 50,000 in December and the unemployment rate edged down to 4.4%. Employers added 584,000 jobs in 2025, a sharp decline from 2 million in 2024 and the weakest annual gain outside a recession since the early 2000s. Since April's "Liberation Day" tariffs there has been no job growth and subsequent revisions may show net declines. Tariffs directly reduced jobs in manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and ag-related businesses and indirectly dampened hiring through uncertainty. Manufacturing lost 70,000 jobs since April, with tens of thousands lost in mining, logging, and warehousing. Health care and social services sustained most hiring; without them payrolls would have fallen. A Supreme Court decision declaring reciprocal tariffs unlawful could revive job growth.
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