US job growth hits pandemic lows as trade tensions rise

美国就业增长触及疫情低点,贸易紧张局势加剧

World Business Report

2025-08-02

26 分钟
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单集简介 ...

The US added 73,000 jobs last month - the weakest performance since the Covid pandemic. Economists were caught off guard, and earlier figures have been revised down. Democrats say President Trump’s trade policy is damaging business confidence and stalling hiring. Meanwhile, tensions with Canada are escalating as Trump hikes tariffs to 35% on some goods, blaming issues from fentanyl to foreign policy. And in Southeast Asia, some countries learned after the deadline that their tariffs would be lowered - raising questions about transparency. Plus, is the world signing off early on Fridays? New UK data points to a quiet remote work trend.
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  • Hello, welcome to World Business Report here on the BBC World Service.

  • My name's Ed Butler.

  • On today's edition,

  • one day after Donald Trump has offered trade deals to some and punished other countries with higher tariffs,

  • we're assessing the winners and losers of what we've been seeing from Europe to Canada to East Asia.

  • And we're asking what it could mean for the future.

  • As to what it means for the global economy, it will mean...

  • Less efficient production.

  • It will mean higher inflation and will probably mean lower demand.

  • Plus, if you're one of the nearly one billion workers around the world who work remotely these days,

  • tell me, when do you really tend to clock off at the end of the working week?

  • You got me.

  • Hang on, it's ten past three.

  • Are you working from home?

  • Well, technically, no. Some people do stay till five.

  • Some people don't.

  • We will be asking that question forensically later in the show.

  • First up, though, the US job market has slowed sharply, we've discovered today.

  • In the last month,

  • the figures show that just 73,000 jobs were added to the US economy and job creation generally has been substantially weaker than had been previously estimated.