While a weaker labor market suggests potential cracks in the U.S. economy, it also could keep the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates in September.

The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs last month, marking a sharp slowdown in hiring and pushing the unemployment rate down slightly to 4.1%. Friday’s report adds to signs that employers are becoming more cautious amid pressures,

U.S. economic growth slowed amid a widening in the trade deficit, but consumer spending and business investment pointed to underlying strength.

Trump said this week that Americans have “the greatest economy maybe in the history of the world.” Reality keeps pointing in the opposite direction.

The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth, yet consum

The US economy is continuing to grow faster and generate more new jobs than Europe. Annual national income growth over the past five years has averaged 3.3% in the US against 2.6% in the EU. In the first quarter of 2026,

U.S. gross domestic product rose at a 1.5% annual rate in the second quarter, falling short of economists’ expectations.

Progressives like to chatter about the so-called K-shaped economy, but the reality is that the U.S. economy is a long-term wealth-generating machine.

Episode 306 of the Investopedia Express with Caleb Silver (August 3, 2026)