The July Jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released on Friday, is raising concerns among economists, who warn that the latest data and sharp downward revisions point to a labor market that is losing momentum and potentially edging toward a recession.
What Happened: On Sunday, in a post on X, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said that the U.S. economy was “closer to stall speed than we thought,” citing the bleak figures published in the report.
Besides the disappointing payroll growth of just 73,000 during the month, far short of the expected 110,000, Summers says “the big deal” is the downward revisions for May and June, which now show job growth of just 19,000 and 14,000, respectively, down from the initial estimates of 144,000 and 147,000.
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“That means there is a real possibility that we’re in a stall speed kind of economy,” Summers says, warning that “we could tip over into recession”