Welcome to the NewsHour. Fresh government data show the labor market hit a wall this summer.

The August jobs report came in far weaker than expected, signaling a slowdown that could

challenge the president's economic message. Employers added just 22,000 new jobs last month.

The only sector that added significant numbers was health care. Several other sectors,

including manufacturing, lost jobs. Revision also showed that the economy lost 13,000 jobs in June.

That is the first net loss since December of 2020 during the pandemic. President Trump was

asked about those weaker numbers. He said high interest rates were partly to blame and predicted unprecedented job growth to come next year.

He then cast some doubt on the latest data and said there may be more adjustments to come.

The other thing is so many different elements aren't included yet.

And one of the things we've learned, and we've learned

that the hard way, watching over the last few months, are the corrections that people have been

making. They'll say, you're losing jobs, and then they'll say, by the way, we have a correction

a month later. This was the first monthly jobs report since the president fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics just hours after a weak jobs report last month.

Experts said today they've seen no problems with the agency's work yet or the acting commissioner overseeing it.

I spoke about all of this earlier today with Austin Goolsby, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank

of Chicago.

Austin Gouldsby, welcome back to the News Hour. Thanks for joining us.

Hi. Thank you for having me.

So let's just start with your reaction to those jobs numbers.

22,000 new jobs added in August. What do those numbers say to you about the labor market and the economy?

Well, they're not positive numbers. They're coming in August. What do those numbers say to you about the labor market and the economy? Well, they're not positive numbers. They're coming in weaker than was expected and

weaker than what folks would like. The only thing I will raise and remind folks is, A, be a little

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