After the U.S. Department of Labor released the latest jobs and unemployment numbers, DNC Chair and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez issued the following statement:

“Our country is in crisis. Over 186,000 Americans have died from this pandemic. Another 1.6 million people filed for unemployment last week and millions of Americans are still out of work. And we continue to see racial injustice and unrest in this country. We need new leadership to get America back on track instead of turning a blind eye to the challenges we face. We need Donald Trump gone from the Oval Office. Trump’s mismanagement of this pandemic has sent our economy spiraling into the deepest crisis since the Great Depression. We saw another slowdown in hiring last month and 29 million Americans are receiving some form of unemployment benefits. Over 100,000 small businesses have closed for good. And yet, Trump can’t even be bothered to change his tee time.

“It doesn’t have to be this bad. Week after week. Month after month. It doesn’t have to be this bad. Not if we elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. Not if we vote for Democratic leadership to build our country back better.”

Job growth continues to slow, and slowed significantly in August after accounting for Census hiring.

New York Times’s Ben Casselman: “The headline number was boosted by temporary hiring for the 2020 census. Private-sector job growth slowed to 1 million from 1.5 million in July.”

Axios: “The labor market is rebounding, but the pace of hiring has dropped off. The slowdown could be a sign of what’s to come: a long, sluggish job market recovery… President Trump has praised job gains in recent months, even though they have consistently slowed from June’s surprise 4.8 million jump.”

BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger magnitude in the prior 3 months.”

Fewer than half of jobs lost during the pandemic have come back, with 11.5 million fewer jobs than in February.

BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger  magnitude in the prior 3 months. In August, nonfarm employment was below its February level by 11.5 million, or 7.6 percent.”

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “Official unemployment rate = 8.4%  That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March but one of worst in modern history. **About 48% of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have returned**”

Permanent job losses rose by 534,000 in August to 2.1 million since February.

BLS: “In August, the number of permanent job losers increased by 534,000 to 3.4 million; this measure has risen by 2.1 million since February.”

Hispanic and Asian unemployment remains over 10 percent, and the Black unemployment rate remains nearly twice that of white Americans.

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “This continues to be a highly uneven recovery.  Black, Hispanic and younger workers remain over 10% unemployed Men: 8% Women: 8.4% Teens: 16.1% White: 7.3% Hispanic: 10.5% Asian: 10.7% Black: 13%”

There continue to be mass layoffs costing tens of thousands of jobs.

CBS News: “President Donald Trump has hailed the economy in speeches and on social media, proclaiming in August that ‘jobs are flowing.’ But even as some employers are rehiring workers, others are shedding thousands of jobs, with major companies announcing 50,000 job cuts in the last two weeks alone.”

MSN: “The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Thursday reported that announced job losses last month represented the highest August total since 2002. For the year to date, more than 1.96 million job cuts have been announced, more than triple the 592,556 jobs lost in all of 2019.”

Initial claims for unemployment increased last week, with 1.6 million Americans filing for some form of unemployment.

Washington Post: “Last week, 833,000 workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits, while 759,000 new claims were filed by freelancers, part-time workers and others under a federal program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Both figures, which are not seasonally adjusted, were increases from the previous week.”

Small businesses remain in peril with millions of small firms expecting to have to close in the next six months.

Bloomberg: “About one in 20 small firms say they expect to permanently shut down in the next six months, according to the latest Small Business Pulse Survey by the Census Bureau.”