US economy unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July

Lacklustre figure prompts traders to scale back bets on Fed rate rises

Trump said this week that Americans have “the greatest economy maybe in the history of the world.” Reality keeps pointing in the opposite direction.

Nonfarm payrolls were projected to increase by 83,000 in July while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

The economy lost 23,000 payroll jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, as businesses contended with the ongoing energy supply shock from the war with Iran. Although, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%. Forecasters had expected payroll job growth to be 88,000, so the report was a pretty big miss.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed that the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July.

The U.S. economy shed 23,000 jobs in July, a sign that the labor market had not stabilized after four months of positive growth.