Afford Anything · Friday, August 7, 2026
The US economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July, a figure that significantly defied economist expectations of a 95,000 job gain. This occurred even as the unemployment rate decreased from 4.2% to 4.1%. Revisions to previous months' data also showed a slowdown, with May's job growth revised down by half and June's by two-thirds.
“The US lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
“But, and here's the weird part, even though we lost 23,000 jobs, the unemployment rate also dropped from 4.2% down to 4.1%.”
“That was a huge shock because across the board, economists were expecting a job gain of 95,000.”