09/12/2025
The Trump Effect: American Employers Cut Over 85,000 Jobs in August, Making 2025 YTD Job Cuts The Highest Since 2020
September 4, 2025
Today’s Challenger, Gray & Christmas job cuts report revealed what American workers and businesses are feeling: a struggling economy under Donald Trump. American employers cut over 85,000 jobs in August, up 13% from last year in the same month. August’s total was the highest for August since 2020 and after 2020, the highest August total since the Great Recession in 2008. So far in 2025, American companies have announced nearly 900,000 job cuts, up 66% from this point last year, and the highest year-to-date since 2020.
In response to Donald Trump’s failing economy, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:
“Donald Trump’s chaotic economic agenda is wreaking havoc on American businesses. Businesses are buckling under the weight of economic uncertainty, prices for groceries and basic necessities are sky high, and now, good job opportunities are scarce. On top of the pain of Trump’s economy, his billionaire-first budget is hollowing out the middle class – all to line the pockets of his rich and powerful friends. Try as they might, no bu****it ‘rebrand’ of the budget bill is going to change the cold hard facts of ‘the Trump effect’: Americans are being left out in the cold by Trump.”
In the Challenger report, companies are continuing to cite Trump’s actions as the primary reasons for layoffs, including DOGE cuts and uncertain economic conditions. Retail layoffs were up 242% compared to last year and this month’s report signals trouble for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
Today’s job cuts are the latest example of the devastating toll Trump is taking on the U.S. economy. Yesterday, Bureau of Labor Statistics data found that for the first time in years, the US now has more unemployed people than job openings. The official “hiring rate” in the US is just 3.3% – nearly the lowest level since 2013. U.S. manufacturers are being hit hard, with the sector contracting for a sixth straight month, and factory orders declined in July for the third time in four months.
