2025 Was the Worst Non-Recession Year for Jobs Growth Since 2003
Jobs this past year grew at a rate 70 percent slower than the year before Trump took office.
By Chris Walker ,
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.”
Jobs this past year grew at a rate 70 percent slower than the year before Trump took office.
By Chris Walker ,
January 9, 2026
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.”
A broker is seen under the board of the DAX (German stock market index) at Frankfurt's stock exchange September 10, 2001.
January 09, 2026
ALTERNET
Former Treasury Assistant Secretary Aaron Klein warned that President Donald Trump broke dangerous rules by sharing embargoed jobs report data Thursday night on social media.
“This jobs data moves whole markets,” said Klein, speaking on CNN. “You'll see the stock market move because the bond market will move because they're not sure what's going on in terms of the federal reserve. … This data is deeply guarded. It is released at once, released before the markets open at 8:30 in the morning.”
“Very few people have access to this data,” said Klein, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. “I used to when I worked on Capitol hill, and I was a top staffer. The Joint Economic Committee would hold a hearing on this data, and you'd have to be in a lockup. You'd be in a locked room. … You couldn't have your phone or computer or anything. I'm in the lockup. Right? So, like, that's top-secret stuff that is market moving. That is legal stuff. And, for Trump to throw that on his website is nuts.”
The information that Trump was so eager to release actually preceded additional information revealing a sluggish economy in his first year, despite inheriting vigorous growth from former President Joe Biden.
“Well, look, Trump inherited — that’s been the story of his entire life okay? Trump inherited a strong economy. Then he started messing around with trade. He created a bunch of uncertainty. He moved data around,” said Klein. “… The tariffs on again, off again on again, off again. Maybe so. Maybe not — we don't know. And there's been a lot of movement up and down. But if you look over a whole year now, we have a whole year's worth of jobs data. You find an economy that came in with a lot of momentum and it's slowing and stalling a little bit.”
Klein added that the wealthy at the top of the U.S. market now “control so much of the wealth that they're able to perpetuate the economy” on their own, while the bottom group “is struggling and feeling uncertain.”
Watch the video below.
“This jobs data moves whole markets,” said Klein, speaking on CNN. “You'll see the stock market move because the bond market will move because they're not sure what's going on in terms of the federal reserve. … This data is deeply guarded. It is released at once, released before the markets open at 8:30 in the morning.”
“Very few people have access to this data,” said Klein, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. “I used to when I worked on Capitol hill, and I was a top staffer. The Joint Economic Committee would hold a hearing on this data, and you'd have to be in a lockup. You'd be in a locked room. … You couldn't have your phone or computer or anything. I'm in the lockup. Right? So, like, that's top-secret stuff that is market moving. That is legal stuff. And, for Trump to throw that on his website is nuts.”
The information that Trump was so eager to release actually preceded additional information revealing a sluggish economy in his first year, despite inheriting vigorous growth from former President Joe Biden.
“Well, look, Trump inherited — that’s been the story of his entire life okay? Trump inherited a strong economy. Then he started messing around with trade. He created a bunch of uncertainty. He moved data around,” said Klein. “… The tariffs on again, off again on again, off again. Maybe so. Maybe not — we don't know. And there's been a lot of movement up and down. But if you look over a whole year now, we have a whole year's worth of jobs data. You find an economy that came in with a lot of momentum and it's slowing and stalling a little bit.”
Klein added that the wealthy at the top of the U.S. market now “control so much of the wealth that they're able to perpetuate the economy” on their own, while the bottom group “is struggling and feeling uncertain.”
Watch the video below.
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