Today’s jobs report was ugly: The U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs when economists expected it to add 83,000. Last July’s report was bad too, so much so that President Donald Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over it.

The BLS doesn’t have a new leader yet, so who will Trump fire now? The White House renewed efforts to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook today, whose job the Supreme Court protected earlier this year while a legal case over alleged mortgage fraud is playing out (Cook has not been charged with a crime). 

We’ll have more on the Federal Reserve below, plus some interesting new developments in America’s affordability crisis. But first, let’s look at which sectors lost jobs last month. — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor  

If there’s one thing an economy’s supposed to do, it’s add jobs.

At least enough to absorb folks joining and re-joining the workforce, be it from school, raising kids, or (at least in past administrations) immigration.

So a -23,000 month, like the U.S. economy had in July, is definitely going in the wrong direction. Over the past three months, with big downward revisions, job creation has averaged just 20,000 a month, which is pretty anemic.

Diving deeper into these signs of mediocrity, July saw job losses in several sectors: local government down 57,000, leisure and hospitality down 40,000, finance down 14,000, retail down more than 19,000.

The sector that lost the most jobs in July was local government education. That category is mostly K-12 public school roles, which were down almost 50,000.

Such a sharp drop could be a flaw in “seasonal adjustment,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. She said many teachers are laid off in the summer.

“At the same time, local education employment has fallen every month since March,” Gould said — as in, when school is still in session. “We know that there have been funding cuts at the Department of Education. Worse budget cuts may be coming, and that could cause even more uncertainty about hiring or keeping teachers on staff.”

Financial services, another job-loser, is down 114,000 in the last year. This is partly about the weak housing market and high mortgage rates, said Brian Bethune, a financial economist at Boston College.

“Mortgage activity has slowed to a standstill,” he said.

Nearly 12% more credit cards were issued in the first quarter of 2026 from a year before, according to a new report from TransUnion. Many of those are going to subprime borrowers, who have been hit especially hard by high prices on basic necessities. Credit card companies see an opportunity to cash in with high fees and interest.

It’s a symbol of affordability concerns among young voters — and a cudgel for elected officials to dismiss those concerns. After all, a burrito pretty much only costs $20 if you’re ordering delivery. Rep. Dan Crenshaw told college kids to ”stop whining” and “eat ramen,” while Vice President JD Vance took the opportunity to ridicule a Trump ally about his weight. It’s getting ugly.

This Wall Street Journal op-ed argues these politicians and commentators are missing the point: High fuel prices, tariffs, deficit spending and low interest rates make everything more expensive, not just burritos. With inflation stubbornly high, poll after poll shows cost of living is a key issue for voters heading into midterms.