The US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July 2026, while the unemployment rate declined to 4.1%. Jared Bernstein, former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, argues this figure masks a quiet deterioration of the labor market. The unemployment rate fell not because more people found work, but because fewer people were even looking for jobs. Bernstein describes the current labor market as being stuck in a low-hire, low-fire equilibrium, with private-sector job growth essentially flat over the past year. Private wage growth has decelerated to 3.2% year-over-year, the slowest pace since the pandemic began.
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