Friday, September 5, 2025. Little Bobby Junior strips naked before a Senate committee to expose his big, huge ignorance, the job reports coming out this morning, a Chump staffer gets caught chatting on camera about Epstein and Maxwell, and much more.
They were civil rights lawyers, Social Security employees and labor experts. And now they’re all in completely different jobs.
To
fill vacancies left behind by waves of firing and resignations in the
Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government, agencies are
reassigning people to posts they know little about. That includes people
who were forced out of jobs that are required by law or are essential
to basic government functions, according to interviews with 20 federal
employees across seven departments, most of whom spoke to The Washington
Post on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Often,
those moves reflect the administration’s agenda: The Department of
Homeland Security, for example, has reassigned dozens of employees at
the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to help bring on new hires for the government’s mass
deportation agenda. Justice Department officials gave a select group of
senior career attorneys a choice between quitting or joining a new
Sanctuary Cities Enforcement working group.
Many
staffers have been moved from civil rights jobs, workers say. At the
Justice Department, for example, attorneys who protected employees from
workplace discrimination were moved to roles handling human resources
complaints or Freedom of Information Act requests. At the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, civil rights lawyers who pursued cases of
housing discrimination were shifted to defend the agency from
complaints. At the Transportation Department, an employee who spent a
decade working in civil rights is now reviewing highway grants.
The
result, employees said, is that work is being done less efficiently by
people with little relevant experience or background, even if they have
spent years in government in other positions. One former IT worker at
the Social Security Administration — newly reassigned to disability
benefits processing — described the changes as “leaving a Bugatti in the
garage” and “a strategic decapitation of institutional knowledge.”
The
reassignments are “another thing, in the long line of efforts, to get
us to just quit and abandon ship,” said Paul Osadebe, a HUD civil rights
attorney.
He has actively destroyed our government. That's our government, not his. He was put in place for four years to work for us and so far, day 229 of his administration (on THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUEHL, Stephanie notes the number at the top of each broadcast) he's not working for us, he's not ensuring this country's future, he's just addicted to vengeance and ripping everything apart. His administration is nothing but crooks and fools -- that's not an either/or. They are all crooks, they are all fools.
His job was to bring in the best and the brightest. Instead, to ensure he'd have lackeys who flattered him, he brought in the worst and the dimmest.
As Elaine's noted, Little Junior may be the most dangerous because he's destroying public health. Last night, Lawrence O'Donnell called him "the most dangerous nepo baby in American history."
I was at the hearing yesterday. Afraid, honestly, that I'd have to cover it here because the media would be an embarrassment with their coverage. However, Lawrence had Senator Raphael Warnock on last night. And Lawrence did a great job covering the hearing (no surprise there), but it's also true that MSNBC as an outlet did a great job covering the hearing.
That's Jen Psaki.
And Jen did a great job covering Senator Elizabeth Warren's exchange with Junior. That's Stephanie Ruhl who, of course, MSNBC still hasn't posted any segments of to YOUTUBE so far. That's everyone, I saw.
I could note Chris Hayes, he did a good job on this. But he also did another segment which kind of soured me on noting him in this snapshot. He had on guest X.
Why did I fear I'd have to go through all my notes from the hearing yesterday to pull for this snapshot?
Yesterday, Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:
ICYMI:Senator Murray Issues Statement on Launch of West Coast Health Alliance in Response to Trump and RFK Jr. Attacks on CDC
ICYMI: Senator Murray Calls for Immediate Firing of RFK Jr., Commends CDC Director Monarez’s Stand for Science and Public Health
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, took to the Senate floor
to reiterate her call for the firing of U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. for his
increasingly dangerous attacks on lifesaving vaccines and America’s
public health infrastructure and his efforts to discard evidence, manipulate outcomes
to fit his conspiracy-addled ideology, and force out anyone—including
former Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan
Monarez—who dares to stand up for basic science. The CDC Director is a
Senate-confirmed position for the first time this year thanks to the
bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics ActSenator Murray negotiated and passed into law as HELP Chair in 2022.
Senator Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care who has led hearings on addressing vaccine hesitancy, has been a leader in raising the alarm over RFK Jr.’s nomination since the beginning—speaking out on the Senate floor, holding numerous events, raisingthe alarm after meeting with him, and hammering the threat he poses to Americans’ health nonstop. She ledtheoppositionto
the Trump administration’s disastrous plan to dismantle HHS and fire
tens of thousands of staff in critical positions across CDC, NIH, FDA,
and other agencies, and spoke out forcefully against RFK Jr.’s ousting of the entire CDC vaccine advisory board, including one ACIP member from Washington state. Senator Murray has held countlessevents across Washington state and in Washington, D.C. with doctors, patients, and former HHS officials to lift up how Trump and Republicans’ attacks on health care will be devastating for families.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on the Senate floor today, are below:
“Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today with a pretty simple message: Fire
RFK Jr. This man is burning down our public health system from the
inside. We have got to take away his matches and his keys away, and we
need to do it now.
“We need to make his latest attack on public health, firing a CDC Director—why? Because she stood up for science.
“The stakes are sky-high. Our medical research, our public health,
our pandemic preparedness, our food safety—RFK Jr. is putting all of
that in jeopardy, and putting communities across this country in danger.
We cannot put our heads into the sand.
“We absolutely need a Secretary of Health and Human Services, not a
Secretary of Conspiracies, not a Secretary of Measles and Food
Poisoning, certainly not a Secretary of Cancelled Research and Chemtrail
Nonsense.
“It does not take a shred of imagination to see how dangerous RFK
Jr.’s leadership has been. It just takes two eyes and two seconds, if
that!
“I mean, one of the first things he did, right off the bat, was fan
the flames of a measles outbreak by ignoring the science, peddling quack
treatments, and spreading falsehoods about vaccines.
“The result, no surprise, was the largest measles outbreak we have
seen in decades, one that tragically took the lives of two children.
“Did that spark one iota of reflection from RFK Jr.? Of course not.
The largest measles outbreak since 1992—and do you know how RFK Jr.
described the response this week? ‘Effective.’ Effective! Are you
kidding me?
“I shudder to think what it would take for a man like that to admit
failure. We should all hope that we never find out. Instead of learning
even a single lesson, all he has done now is double down on doing as
much damage as possible.
“When it comes to vaccines, he has not only spouted off nonsense and
falsehoods to families who looking to him for reliable guidance, he
fired every single member of CDC’s vaccine advisory board—down to the
last one.
“And then, he started replacing them with a who’s-who of anti-vax
alarmists, who have already started shaping federal policy to fit their
anti-science conspiracies.
“And when the new CDC Director, nominated by Trump, endorsed by RFK
Jr. himself, confirmed by the Senate, dared to stand up and say—you
know, I think we should follow science instead of nonsense, RFK Jr.
pushed to fire her too. This is unbelievable!
“Meanwhile, when it comes to medical research, he is tossing
promising work and potential breakthroughs into the garbage. One
example: mRNA research is on the cutting edge of medical innovation—not
just for lifesaving vaccines by the way, but for lifesaving cancer
treatments.
“And you don’t have to just take my word for it: President Trump’s
own health leaders champion mRNA research as a groundbreaking scientific
advancement.
“But with all the lives hanging in the balance, RFK Jr. pulled the plug on all federal funding for mRNA research.
“Not only is this a massive blow to our researchers and to our
patients, but it is a massive win by the way for China, who we just
handed a huge opening to now take the lead on biomedical innovation. And
mRNA technology isn’t the only cancer research RFK Jr. has upended.
“He and Trump are cutting research grants across the board,
across the country, and cutting patients off from clinical trials that
were their last, best chance at beating a deadly disease.
“They are now condemning some of these patients to death.
They are killing their hope for a cure. And some of these patients are
kids. Children.
“Last month, the National Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Brain Tumor
Consortium stopped enrolling kids with brain cancer in clinical trials
that could save their lives. All after Trump and RFK Jr. ended federal
funding for that work. What do my colleagues want to say to these
parents? I don’t even know what there is to say.
“Yes, we can fight to restore funding. Yes, we will fight here to
restore funding, especially as so many of Trump’s cuts are, in fact,
outright illegal.
“But we can’t restore lost time, invaluable time, for kids fighting
an incredibly deadly disease. For some of them it may be too late. That
is heartbreaking. And it’s a direct result of RFK Jr.’s disastrous
leadership at HHS.
“To my colleagues: Sorry does not cut it, especially if you aren’t
sorry enough to demand the person who is responsible be fired.
“What happened to the accountability Republicans pretend to care so much about?
“And that’s not all. RFK Jr. is sabotaging food safety. I’m glad that
some companies are choosing to remove artificial dyes from some of
their products, but when it comes to bedrock regulations that keep all
Americans safe and prevent foodborne illnesses, RFK Jr. may as well be
pro-food poisoning.
“Because on his watch, CDC is throwing in the towel on food safety monitoring.
“This summer, our food surveillance network stopped monitoring requirements for all but two dangerous pathogens.
“I know RFK Jr. doesn’t like listening to public health experts, but I
don’t think it takes an expert to understand that listeria will not go
away just because states don’t have to track it. It will not go away
just because no one is looking. Shigella outbreaks will not disappear if
you ignore them.
“Foodborne diseases will sicken people. They will actually kill people.
“This isn’t about following the science—that’s as plain as
day. You don’t follow the science by defunding it. You don’t follow the
science by shutting it down. You don’t follow the science by firing the
scientists!
“That is exactly how RFK Jr. has been operating.
“And as I mentioned, last week we saw one of the most egregious
examples yet when he fired the CDC Director, all because she chose to
listen to science instead of falsehoods, all because she insisted on
protecting lives instead of pandering to anti-vax conspiracies.
“And as we now continue to see the damaging aftershocks of RFK Jr.’s
reckless decision to steamroll a CDC Director that refused to bow to his
will. Several other experienced, respected, trusted public health
experts resigned from CDC in protest.
“Some are now also shared alarming allegations of the widespread
culture of conspiracy, and incompetence, and willful ignorance of
science—that is now defining RFK Jr.’s leadership. And just this week, a
thousand, one thousand, HHS workers demanded he resign because of how
his actions are compromising the health of the nation.
“And it’s clear RFK Jr. has no intention of changing gears. Earlier
today, he had a Senate hearing, and he continued to flaunt his ignorance
like a badge of honor, not even knowing the COVID death toll. Outright
lying about established science. Refusing to take any accountability for
his actions.
“Mr. President, great leaders leave behind a track record of
accomplishments. But it is painfully clear that RFK Jr. will leave
behind a body count. How high will it go?
“That all depends on how long will Republicans let him go around
setting fires? How much damage will my colleagues let him do? How many
children will die before they finally take action?
“We should not let him have one more day in power.
“I know some of my colleagues understand the grave reality of
the situation. What I don’t know is how long they are going to be
willing to stay silent? You can talk about oversight—but what are you
actually doing?
“You can talk about the need to follow the science—but that’s
not the path you have put us down. If you want to show you are serious,
if you want to save lives, you need to join us in talking about how
important it is President Trump fire RFK Jr.
“Anything less is lying to yourself, while RFK Jr. lies to the
American people, about things as basic, as established, and as
lifesaving as vaccine safety.”
###
Senator Parry Murray has led on this issue. She wasn't at yesterday's hearing because she's not on that Committee. But, as we noted in last Friday's snapshot, on Wednesday of last week, she called for Junior to be fired.
And the only problem I've had with that call was when a woman writing for MOTHER JONES -- run by two women -- did a 'report' last Saturday that managed to ignore Patty while noting two men who followed her days after. I'm damn tired of women being stripped of their credits and their work ignored.
When we covered hearings constantly here, it was always interesting to see how many women seated on Committees were ignored. It was interesting to see media favorites shape the coverage.
The most important hearing on Iraq that the Senate had after Barack Obama became president was completely miscovered by the entire press with the exception of Elisabeth Bumiller for THE NEW YORK TIMES. I sat through that hearing, we spent days covering that hearing while the press turned it into John McCain (a press favorite) had a cat fight!
That was in the first 15 minutes of the hearing and you could see the press exiting thinking that they had their story. They didn't. They missed it. They missed the very important points Senator Kay Hagen made, for example.
That's big media. Let's not pretend little media didn't do the same.
Guest X that Chris Hayes had on yesterday? I've called him out by name here many times but I'm not in the mood to publicize him today.
He didn't like Hillary Clinton. Fine, I don't care. I do care that Guest X 'live blogged' a hearing and completely ignored her and then lied that his cable went out to excuse his not covering her in the hearing. This is the hearing where Hillary rightly noted that Nouri al-Maliki was a thug -- and used the term "thug." Her comments and questions to Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker were very important.
But Guest X hated Hillary and refused to report on it.
Guest X has never owned it. Has never apologized for it.
John Kerry -- who chaired the hearing -- was an utter embarrassment But he and other men were covered by Guest X. So, sorry, Chris, I'll thank you but I won't advance your show in this snapshot due to your interview with Guest X. Not in a snapshot less than a week after MOTHER JONES felt sexism was more important than giving a woman credit for leading on an issue.
I think there was solid work on the Committee, that senators -- even Republican ones -- voiced serious concerns and tried to hold a non-stop liar accountable.
Senator Maria Cantwell especially had some strong moments. The strongest was this:
Senator Maria Cantwell: Following up on the same line as Senator [Bill] Cassidy because
that's exactly -- I represent one of the most science-based states in the country. That is percentage of
scientists per capita. And at your confirmation hearing, we asked about this: Whether you would follow
science. You've made a statement here today in your testimony that you would follow science, and yet
you are not following science and that was what Senator Cassidy's question was. It's a simple yes or no
answer. "Do you think the President deserves to get a prize for Warp Speed and the mRNA technology
that saved so many lives?" And you won't answer that question.
HHS Junior: I answered it.
Senator Maria Cantwell: No, you are saying that there are problems with what was interpreted. You can say yes --
HHS Junior: I said the president deserves a Nobel Prize. But the mRNA vaccines that we're working on, the ones we canceled, which are for upper respiratory infections alone --
Senator Maria Cantwell: You canceled $500 million of research, because the mRNA technology is about continuing the research to be ready for the next influenza, the next pandemic, and you have to do the research to --
HHS Junior: I'm happy to have a detailed discussion with you about it. You are so wrong on your facts.
Senator Maria Cantwell: You're interrupting me and, sir, you're a charlatan. That's what you are.
Speak the truth. That's what he is, that's all he is. For me, that was the strongest moment in the hearing. When the exact term for what Junior is was applied to him. Senator Maggie Hassan also spoke the truth. She noted he was hiding information from the public. Junior kept falling back on that things were done publicly. He may have been lying, he may not have been (he was wrong regardless), we'll get to that in a moment but here's what it got heated.
HHS Junior: This is crazy talk. You're just making stuff up.
Senator Maggie Hassan: -- to prescribe this vaccine for children -- I’m not making
things up. Do you know how the FDA approval process works and what --
HHS Junior: I-I-I-I --
Senator Maggie Hassan (Con't): -- an off-label prescription is?
HHS Junior: I know exactly how it works. I know exactly how it works.
Senator Maggie Hassan: So why -- so why behind closed doors do you --
HHS Junior: It's not behind closed doors. The industry makes the studies and they
could not provide a study that said that it is effective for healthy
kids.
Senator Maggie Hassan: So when have you produced the data that you relied on
and that this FDA relied on to change those parameters? You did it
behind closed doors.
HHS Junior: The data's all public!
Senator Maggie Hassan: Now, parents who decide that they do want their children to have a COVID vaccine --
HHS Junior: You’re just making stuff up, Senator.
Senator Maggie Hassan: I'm not making stuff up.
HHS Junior: You're just making stuff up.
Senator Maggie Hassan: You know, sometimes when you make an accusation, it's kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy.
They're talking about two different things. The senator's noting that Junior and others did not make decisions in public, they were behind closed doors and we have no information regarding the discussions that went down.
When Junior is claiming things are in the public, he's referring to the drug companies studies and findings. Those are public. The drug companies were following the laws (as far as we know) That's not what she was talking about. She was talking about the deliberative process that he overseas and that he has hidden from the public. The things that provide us with an open government, a democracy. Those laws and regulations? Junior's not following them.
Much has been made of Junior's struggle to breathe in public -- yes, he kept forgetting to turn off his microphone when not speaking, but it was more than that. He was struggling and he's struggling -- as someone who knows him -- because he's off his meds. That's not a joke. And that's also why he couldn't sit still and kept bouncing when speaking. I don't make fun of his voice, it's a health issue. If others want to, go for it. I'm not stop anybody and I say we throw everything we can at these people trying to destroy our country. But I do know Junior is supposed to take meds and I do know what he's like when he doesn't. You saw a crazy fool having some form of a psychotic episode while testifying to Congress.
And what was up with his face. Remember those machines that they had for kids that would polish rocks? His face look like it had been through one.
Let's jump over to Senator Mark Warner.
Senator Mark Warner: I want to go back to just, again, some basic facts. Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID?
HHS Junior: I don't know how many died.
Senator Mark Warner: You're the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from COVID?
HHS Junior: I don't think anybody knows that because the -- There was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC and there were so many --
Senator Mark Warner: You don't know the answer of how many Americans died from COVID?
This is the Secretary of Health and Human Services? Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?
HHS Junior: Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data. I'm not fully --
Senator Mark Warner: You've had this job for eight months and you don't know the data about whether the vaccine saved lives?
HHS Junior in a whiny voice the attacked Joe Biden. Like Betty and so many other Americans I am damn tired of people trying to blame Joe Biden. This administration destroying everything needs to bee held accountable. Joe stepped down in January.
We'll note this before moving on to the next senator.
Senator Mark Warner: Mr. Chairman, the Secretary of Health and Human Services doesn't know how many Americans died from COVID. He doesn't know if the vaccine helped prevent any deaths. And you are sitting as Secretary of Health and Human Services? How can you be that ignorant?
Junior had no answer to that question though he did continue to sport his ignorance throughout the hearing. For example? Asked by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto the amount that Medicare Part B premiums would be increasing in 2026, he responded, "I don't know." That's really his job to know.
Senator Masto: Next year, seniors and families are facing higher health care costs
across the board. Twenty-three million people on Medicare with
standalone Part D drug plans could see their premiums rise to $50 a
month, up from $35, because the Trump Administration is cutting the
federal subsidy that has been keeping costs down. Part B premiums will jump 11.6% to $206 a month in 2026, one of the largest single year increases in decades.
It's Junior's job to know the numbers that Masto cited. But instead of facts and figures, Junior just repeatedly said "I don't know" in one form or another throughout the hearing.
Junior was shrill and moody throughout the hearing. Senator Ben Ray Lujan noted that the members of the committee wanted to know the truth and Junior disputed that and at another point Junior demonstrated how he did not inherent his father's charm by snapping at Lujan, "I don't know what you're talking about, you're talking gibberish." Senator Peter Welch saw Junior as evidence and proof that of how Congress has been abdicating their duties this session, " And what has Congress done? On oversight, and advice and consent, we have confirmed a vaccine denier. On tariffs, we've given up our constitutional responsibility. On appropriations, we're bending the knee to an Administration that is rescinding and decided what to spend and what not to spend despite the way our law -- in a bipartisan
way -- was passed."
Senator Ron Wyden is the Raking Member on the Committee and he noted in his opening statement:
Instead of finding ways to help American families pay less for health care, Robert Kennedy is singularly focused on his anti-vaccine mission, fueled by a messiah complex, the consequences be damned. Amid this litany of corruption and chaos, the one point I must underline is this: Robert Kennedy puts children in harm's way every single day. To my Republican colleagues, I must ask, "What line must Robert Kennedy cross before you too sound the alarm?" This weekend, under the cover of darkness, Robert Kennedy attempted to disappear hundreds of children under his care at the Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities. These children, here without parents or family, were rounded up in the middle of the night and put on planes to Guatemala. Lawyers on the ground described unthinkable scenes. One child said to their lawyer, "Why do they want to send me back? My mom is dead and my dad abuses me. Why do they want to hurt me?" These actions were illegal, and documents show that many of these children were in the country to escape trafficking in their home country. Kennedy calls himself a "protector of children." It's a rich claim coming from someone who has flown on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet on multiple occasions. Robert Kennedy shouldn't be within a million miles of this job. Republicans on this committee had a chance to prevent the public health train wreck that Kennedy is responsible for; every one voted to confirm him. It is in the country's best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn't, Trump should fire him before more people are hurt by his reckless disregard for science and the truth.
Good points and now let's go back to Senator Maria Cantwell.
Senator Maria Cantwell: Do you think the women on the steps of the Capitol were a hoax yesterday?
HHS Junior: I don't know about any women on the steps of the steps of the Capitol yesterday.
Senator Maria Cantwell: The women who were talking about Epstein? Do you think they were a hoax yesterday?
HHS Junior: Do I think they were?
Senator Maria Cantwell: Do you think they were a hoax yesterday?
HHS Junior: Perpetuating a hoax?
Senator Maria Cantwell: Yeah.
HHS Junior: I have no idea what they were saying. This the first I'm hearing about it.
Senator Maria Cantwell: Your first time that you're hearing about the women on the Capitol steps saying that they believe that the Epstein information should be made public? That's the first you're hearing about it? What I'm saying is you are perpetrating hoaxes. You as the secretary of health, so you're undermining the whole health care delivery system, and you keep trying to point to chronic disease. But you're not putting solutions on the table to cover more Americans, and you're taking away the science and technology that has made us the leader, that has saved, according to the first Trump Administration Surgeon General, millions of lives! And you don't want to keep that going! So no, I don't support your continued efforts as Secretary, and I definitely think that our colleagues need to rally around science. If you want the Northwest to just continue to lead on all innovation and all healthy people. Okay, we'll do that, but it's a sad statement for the rest of America and America's leadership on technology.
Yes, Junior was connected to Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein died in prison during Chump's first term as president. He was convicted of sex trafficking and Chump had been friends with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for years. Epstein and Maxwell worked together as pedophiles engaged in sex trafficking. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Weeks ago, Chump moved his friend Ghislaine to Club Fed -- a camp for low risk offenders (not registered sex offenders) in Bryan, Texas. That and his refusal to release documents on Epstein and Maxwell have outraged many including the survivors as well as Americans who believe in fairness and justice.
On YOUTUBE, MSNBC has done a compilation of some of their coverage of the Epstein survivors.
James O’Keefe,
the Project Veritas founder and longtime pro-MAGA activist, published a
clip on Thursday of a Trump Justice Department official claiming that Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to prison “to keep her quiet.”
In the clip, an off-camera woman asks Joseph Schnitt, an acting deputy chief of special operations, about the Epstein Files and Maxwell – a convicted sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice.
“But those files do exist,” noted the woman.
“Yeah,
thousands and thousands to page through. They’ll redact every
Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal,
Democratic people in those pages,” Schnitt replied.
“I think they visited that Maxwell person. Kind of also involved,” presses the woman.
“Transferred
to a minimum security prison too recently, which is against BOP policy
because she’s a convicted sex offender. They’re offering her something
to keep her quiet,” Schnitt claimed.
The Department of Justice later responded on X with a letter from Deputy Chief Joseph Schnitt that appeared to confirm that he spoke to someone who worked for O'Keefe.
"I
met a woman named Skylar on Hinge, a dating app, in July 2025, her
profile is no longer findable," Schnitt explained. "We had two dates
(August 4 and August 16)."
"She
gave no clues that she was a reporter or recording our dates. Had I a
clue, the first date would have ended immediately and there never would
have been a second one," he continued. "The comments I made were my own
personal comments on what I've learned in the media and not from
anything I've done at or learned via work."
Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest since June, adding to evidence that the labor market is cooling.
Initial
claims increased by 8,000 to 237,000 in the week ended Aug. 30. The
median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 230,000
applications.
Companies have grown more hesitant about
hiring while assessing the economic impact from President Donald Trump’s
policies. Hiring plans fell to the weakest level for any August on
record in data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas
going back to 2009, while intended job cuts rose.
Layoffs surged nearly 40 percent
last month, with employers eliminating 85,979 positions — the largest
August hit since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according
to research released Thursday.
The analysis from the Challenger, Gray & Christmas consulting firm noted the cuts, which have hit the pharmaceutical, financial and retail industries especially hard, are likely linked to some of President Trump’s policies since his return to office in January.
Alicia Wallace (CNN) points out, "New
metrics released Thursday showed that first-time claims for
unemployment benefits rose to an 11-week high; that private-sector
businesses sharply reined in their hiring last month; and that last
month was the worst August for layoff announcements since the Great
Recession." Alex Harring (CNBC) adds,
"Jobs tied to trade, transportation and utilities saw particular
weakness in August, with the group losing 17,000 roles on net, according
to the ADP. Education and health services followed, recording a decline
of 12,000 jobs."
