Qualified candidates struggle in a sluggish market due to Trump tariffs, AI screening and vanishing entry-level roles***

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Tuesday that the US added 911,000 fewer jobs than first estimated for the year to March 2025, highlighting already heightened concerns about the health of the labor market.

The news followed a lackluster August jobs report, with only 22,000 jobs added in the US. That report noted that 13,000 jobs were lost for the month of June 2025, the first negative jobs report survey since December 2020, the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate increased to 4.3%, the highest rate since 2021.

Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of labor statistics, was fired by Trump after a weak job’s report in July, which the president claimed, without evidence, was “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.