The Latest: Hiring stalls with US companies reluctant to expand in an uncertain economic landscape

U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs last month as the labor market continued to cool under uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s economic policies. The Labor Department said Friday that hiring decelerated from 79,000 in July. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, the Labor Department reported.

When the department put out a disappointing jobs report a month ago, an enraged Trump responded by firing the economist in charge of compiling the numbers and nominating a loyalist to replace her.

Talking to reporters Thursday night at a dinner with wealthy tech executives, Trump had seemed to shrug off whatever hiring numbers would come out Friday. “The real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now,” the president said.

Here’s the latest:

They were detained during an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles, according to the Homeland Security official.

Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, spoke at a news briefing in Savannah on Friday. No charges were immediately announced.

“This operation underscores our commitment to jobs for Georgians and Americans,” Schrank said.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large” though he did not provide an exact figure.

At 10:30 a.m. ET, Trump will receive his intelligence briefing.

At noon, he’ll participate in an ambassador credentialing ceremony.

At 2 p.m., he’ll sign executive orders, followed by an announcement at 4 p.m., then a 7 p.m. dinner in the Rose Garden, according to the White House.

Congressman Greg Steube of Florida and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah formally introduced the “Department of War Restoration Act of 2025” in the House and Senate respectively.

“It should always be clear to anyone who would harm our people: Americans don’t just play defense,” Lee said in a statement earlier this week.

“From 1789 until the end of World War II, the United States military fought under the banner of the Department of War,” Steube, an Army veteran, said in a statement. “It is only fitting that we pay tribute to their eternal example and renowned commitment to lethality by restoring the name of the ‘Department of War’ to our Armed Forces.”

President Trump said he wants to change the Pentagon’s official title because the War Department title “just sounded better.”

Only Congress has the power to establish, shutter and rename federal departments, meaning the legislation is required to formalize Trump’s name change.

The statement from Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, came in response to Friday’s jobs report that said U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs last month amid uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies.

“Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs, failed policies, and fake trade deals have slowed job growth and continually raised prices on American families,” Schumer said.

The Senate voted in April to reverse some of Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada, but the House did not act on the legislation.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson got a major boost Friday in her bid to succeed Iowa’s Republican Sen. Joni Ernst just days after Ernst confirmed she wouldn’t run for a third term. Within hours of Ernst’s announcement Tuesday, Hinson said she would run for the open seat.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott handed Hinson an endorsement Friday in a joint statement. Thune said Hinson would bring to the Senate her “unrelenting energy” working for President Trump’s agenda.

Hinson, who represents Iowa’s northeastern corner, joins two other Republicans in a primary for Ernst’s seat.

President Trump launched Operation Warp Speed in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, an effort he’s credited with saving tens of millions of lives. During a Cabinet meeting last week, he likened it to “one of the greatest achievements ever.”

Sitting at the table as a proud Trump spoke was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who came under fire at a congressional hearing Thursday for his work to restrict access to vaccines, including the very COVID-19 shots still touted by his boss.

The three-hour hearing exposed an odd dichotomy: One of Trump’s most universal successes in his first term remains Operation Warp Speed, yet his handpicked health chief and a growing cadre of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters are distrustful of the very mRNA vaccine technology that the president has championed.

Defense officials were scheduled to provide a classified briefing Friday morning to Congressional leaders and key Hill committees about the strike. But it was canceled without explanation, according to a person familiar with the plans who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

– Michelle L. Price.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% in premarket trading Friday, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.6%, propelled by another strong earnings report from chipmaker Broadcom. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after the government said U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs last month as the labor market continued to cool under uncertainty over President Trump’s economic policies, particularly tariffs.

The slowdown in the job market could bolster the case for Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate, which Fed Chair Jerome Powell has already signaled as a possibility. An announcement of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting Sept. 16-17 could reduce other borrowing costs in the economy, including mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

South Korea on Friday expressed “concern and regret” over a major U.S. immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large” though he didn’t provide an exact figure.

His ministry would not confirm or deny South Korean media reports saying that about 300 South Koreans were detained in Georgia on Thursday. The Atlanta office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which assisted immigration authorities at the site, posed on the social media site X that about 450 people total were apprehended.

Hyundai’s South Korean office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.

– Factories shed 12,000 jobs last month, the fourth straight month that manufacturers have cut payrolls

– Construction companies cut 7,000 jobs, and the federal government 15,000

– Labor Department revisions cut 21,000 jobs off June and July payrolls

– Workers’ average hourly earnings rose 0.3% from July and 3.7% from August 2024, exactly what forecasters expected

The Trump administration is taking its immigration crackdown to the health care safety net, launching Medicaid spending probes in at least six Democratic-led states that provide comprehensive health coverage to poor and disabled immigrants living in the U.S. without permanent legal status.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is scouring payments covering health care for immigrants without legal status to ensure there isn’t any waste, fraud or abuse, according to public records obtained by KFF Health News and The Associated Press.

While acknowledging that states can bill the federal government for Medicaid emergency and pregnancy care for immigrants without legal status, federal officials have sent letters notifying state health agencies in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington that they are reviewing federal and state payments for medical services, such as prescription drugs and specialty care.

The federal agency told the states it’s reviewing claims as part of its commitment to maintain Medicaid’s fiscal integrity.

That’s partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 and partly because Trump’s policies, including his trade wars, have created uncertainty that leaves managers reluctant to make hiring decisions.

So far in 2025, the economy has generated 85,000 new jobs a month, down from 168,000 last year and an average 400,000 a month during the hiring boom of 2021-2023 as the United States roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

“The labor market is showing signs of cracking,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “It’s not a red siren alarm yet, but the signs keep growing that businesses are starting to cut workers.”

The Labor Department said Friday that hiring decelerated from 79,000 in July. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, the Labor Department reported.

When the department put out a disappointing jobs report a month ago, an enraged President Trump responded by firing the economist in charge of compiling the numbers and nominating a loyalist to replace her.

Talking to reporters Thursday night at a dinner with wealthy tech executives, Trump had seemed to shrug off whatever hiring numbers would come out Friday. “The real numbers that I’m talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now,” the president said.

The president’s daughter-in-law will present an interview with the vice president on Saturday evening for her Fox News show, “My View with Lara Trump.”

Vance has served as a pitchman for the White House, traveling to swing states like Georgia and Wisconsin to promote administration policies like recent tax legislation.

He’s also expected to talk about the upcoming midterms and the next presidential election, when he’s been floated as a potential successor to Trump.

The interview airs Saturday at 9 p.m. ET.