Trump's jobs report retaliation "raises alarm bells"

Marketplace All-in-One

Marketplace

News, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s July jobs report came in far below expectations. May and June’s counts were also revised down significantly. What’s a president — one who’s championed contentious economic policies — to do? Fire the BLS chief, apparently. In this episode, what happens if President Donald Trump turns federal data collection into a partisan tool. Plus: Medium-sized companies are hit hardest by tariffs and digital price labels are coming to a grocery store near you.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify.
0:05.6	You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout?
0:08.4	The one that makes buying so incredibly easy?
0:11.1	That's Shopify.
0:12.1	And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it,
0:15.0	because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your own business.
0:19.8	Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of
0:22.2	businesses around the world, from household names like Mattel and Jimshark to brands just getting
0:26.8	started. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify.
0:32.8	Sign up for a one pound per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com.
0:37.9	com.
0:37.9	UK slash Marketplace 22.
0:40.6	Go to Shopify.com.
0:42.3	UK slash Marketplace 22.
0:47.9	This is very not good.
0:52.7	And I'm not just talking about the jobs numbers here either. From American public
0:56.7	media, this is Marketplace.
1:03.9	In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. It is Friday today, August the first. Good as always to have you along, everybody.
1:15.2	It is really important to be really clear about what happened today. We got that July jobs report this morning, as you know, 73,000 new jobs last month, along with sharp downward revisions for May and June. Not great. Not great at all.
1:31.3	But then, hours later, President Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying this
1:36.6	afternoon, and I'm quoting him here, in my opinion, today's jobs numbers were rigged in order to make
1:42.5	Republicans and me look bad. You are, of course,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.