According to December results, the US manufacturing sector showed an eight-month decline in the number of jobs. This happened against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's introduction of strict import tariffs, which were intended to revive American industry, but instead led to a reduction in hiring and an increase in business costs. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
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According to data from the US Department of Labor published on Friday, the manufacturing industry lost another 8,000 jobs in December 2025. In total, the sector shed 75,000 employees last year. Trump noted that tariff revenues - about $30 billion monthly - indicate the success of the policy, but businesses are reacting differently: companies initially massively purchased goods abroad before the tariffs were introduced, and then sharply slowed down purchases and investments.
Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin confirmed to reporters that the labor market situation remains difficult.
It's hard to find companies outside the AI or healthcare ecosystem that are talking about hiring
Manufacturing on the verge of survival
Real business indicators demonstrate the depth of the crisis. For example, at the BCI Solutions Inc. steel plant in Indiana, the staff was reduced from 240 to 130 people - the lowest level since 1993. The company's CEO, J.B. Brown, stated that capacity utilization fell to a record low of 52%.
Although the unemployment rate in December slightly decreased to 4.4% (from 4.5% in November), this is explained more by people leaving the workforce and strict immigration policies than by the creation of new jobs. The pace of employment growth in 2025 fell to 49,000 vacancies per month, which is three times less than the previous year's figures (168,000 per month during Biden's time). Economists state that the only cycle-resistant sector remains healthcare.
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