The labor market is slowing, but it’s all good news in the White House.
The U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, a slight decline from April, according to a jobs report released Friday. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent, still within the ballpark of historic lows reached in 2023, when the unemployment rate reached 3.4 percent—the lowest it had been in more than five decades. But within the folds of the report hid a major red flag for Donald Trump’s agenda: The U.S. is still bleeding manufacturing jobs.
But even the president’s favorite conservative network couldn’t hide its dismay at the slight manufacturing downturn.
“Now, 8,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in May. That’s not what you wanted to see,” said Fox Business host Stuart Varney.
Americans with those skills don’t want to work for shit wages. I can show you plenty of electrician/engineer/mechanic job postings for sub 60k if you would like. I’ve spent two decades in mfg environments watching poor business decisions cripple the workforce and push any and all qualified individuals out.
They’re so fucking myopic. A $50k per year chemical manufacturing operator is going to fuck up $20k worth of equipment and finished product a year compared to a $65k per year.
A $100k/yr technician will save your bacon twice a month and make it look easy. The $70k/yr parts changer will misdiagnose away that $30k you ‘saved’ in about 6 months.