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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs report for December on Friday, showing an unusual slowdown in growth for a month where consumer spending typically generates much higher numbers.
Job growth increased by around 50,000, the report noted. Unemployment remained relatively unchanged from November, going from 4.5 percent in that month to 4.4 percent in December.
The administration was quick to herald the job numbers as proof of a successful economy under President Donald Trump.
“The December jobs report confirms that 2025 was a blockbuster year of solid job growth thanks to the return President Trump’s America First leadership,” read a statement from Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Yet the numbers were lower than in years past, and 2025 overall was lackluster for the president who promised to have a much better performance than his predecessor.
“December’s jobs report closes out 2025 not with fireworks, but with a quiet fizzle,” said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, adding:
After a year marked by tariffs, shutdown disruptions, and shifting economic currents, today’s numbers show an economy that is still moving along, but undeniably slower than where we began.
The addition of 50,000 jobs last month was the worst-performing December of the past decade, aside from the year of the COVID pandemic. Indeed, in no other year since 2015 (except 2020) did jobs fail to grow at any number smaller than 125,000, as December is a month in which more jobs typically show up due to rising demand associated with the holiday season.
2025 as a whole left much to be desired — aside from recession years over the past two decades, this past year had the worst rates of job growth for the U.S. since 2003.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump frequently claimed he would be a better president for jobs than former President Joe Biden. Yet 2025, Trump’s first year back in office, saw a 70 percent slower rate of job growth than the last full year of Biden’s presidency.
The numbers contradict the administration’s rosy outlook for the economy.
Last week, Trump praised his policies — specifically, his tariffs affecting the costs of imports from dozens of countries — for supposedly improving things on Wall Street, though the evidence for that claim is slim.
“The USA markets just hit another ALL TIME HIGH – ALL OF THEM!!! THANK YOU MISTER TARIFF!!!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
But the celebratory nature of Trump’s remarks ignores an important point: While the wealthy are benefiting greatly from Trump’s economic policies, the vast majority of Americans are struggling, a phenomenon that experts call a K-shaped economy.
Job growth likely slowed because of those disparities, as it’s long been understood that the U.S. economy is driven largely by consumer spending. Due to rising prices and the uncertainty of what’s next regarding Trump’s tariffs, consumer confidence levels are shrinking, leading to less spending, and thus less need for workers within certain industries.
Democrats criticized the administration over its handling of the economy, citing the jobs report as evidence that Trump’s policies weren’t working.
“This disastrous jobs report makes it clear that this is not an ‘A++++ economy’ as President Trump claimed, it’s an economy at risk of sliding into recession,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia), the ranking member on the Joint Economic Committee.
“A year into President Trump’s second term, and he hasn’t delivered for working Americans. The job market is a mess, he’s imposed a national sales tax, and he’s trying to kick millions of Americans off their health care,” noted Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pennsylvania). “Trump simply doesn’t care about working families.”
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