Unemployment numbers for the month of February in the U.S. came out on Friday morning and Donald Trump’s inhumane footprint is all over them.
On the surface, the numbers look okay: an increase of eight thousand jobs over January – 151,000 in February versus 143,000 in January.
Even though DOGE has been running amok through the federal civil service, the February jobs numbers reflect only the second week of the month. We know how large the massive number of firings and forced departures has been in the last two weeks of February.
What this means is the full impact of the first month of Trump’s ( I cannot refer to him as President Trump because that would be according him a measure of respect) tenure in the Oval Office won’t be fully seen until later this month.
But here’s what we can state with confidence:
· DOGE’s horrific, damaging role will become clear in the weeks ahead
· Trump’s tariffs or just the threat of tariffs have made companies and large corporations very nervous. And layoffs often follow such nervousness, Let’s not even mention the inflationary nature of those tariffs on imported goods that Americans love
· DOGE and tariffs aside, the strength in U.S. job creation has slacked off considerably since 2023. This is not surprising in an economy with a current low level of unemployment. That will change, though
The outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray and Christmas keeps tabs on the number of layoffs occurring amongst companies ( not to be confused with the federal government’s JOLTS – Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey which is broader in scope). In February, Challenger, Gray et al reported the highest number of layoffs since July 2020, during the pandemic. All the latest layoffs were in the federal workforce.
Behind every single layoff number is a human being. Let’s remember this. A layoff is more than just a layoff; a firing, more than just a firing.
Each action leaves someone without an income, a livelihood, a means of supporting a family.
Millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck; how long will banks be patient as mortgage payments are missed? How long with landlords tolerate missed rent payments?
For those federal employees laid off, how marketable are their skill sets? And can they find a comparable job at a comparable salary? The jury is certainly out on that and likely deadlocked, as well.
What goes up must come down. This is not just an axiom for the stock markets but for economies, too.
Forcing hundreds of thousands of people out of work will cause an enormous economic ripple effect from large urban centers to small towns across America. One can only guess at the pain that small business owners will experience as they see their customers disappear and their sales plummet.
This is the “small amount of pain” that Trump and his chief parrot, Howard Lutnick, refer to when they try to convince Americans that it’s in the nation’s best interest to suffer.
So, the United States sits on the edge of an abyss; looking down, the country sees only a recession staring up.
In a labor market about to go through further layoffs (some believe the final number could reach a million), what are the chances many of those people will find jobs as the economy stumbles and then slides into recession?
What Trump’s policies are creating in real time is a dreadful situation for Americans. The U.S. economy runs on the consumer. If that consumer is unemployed, what does that do to the homeless rate in America where, today, at least 800,000 people have no homes, apart from their car or their cardboard box, as Sheila Callaham, founder of Age Equity Alliance, tells us in this week’s episode of The Art 2 Aging, titled Fighting For Fairness.
“The largest part of that homelessness increase [ up 18% from 2023 to 2024] is actually two groups. One is people with families – with children – and the other group is older people…over 50 and they’re considered too old to contribute. They can’t find re-employment and they max out their credit cards…and they end up losing everything,” she explained.
But, hey, it’s only “a small amount of pain” to go through for the sake of the nation, right?
Layoffs, firings, forced leavings, tariffs – will there be blood in the streets? Not likely. Because Trump will call out the military and order them to put down the rioters.