Still, there was good news. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.4%, slightly better than the 4.5% forecast and below the November rate of 4.6%, which was its highest level in four years. The December unemployment rate suggests that labor demand remains reasonably solid.

On one occasion in 2018, Trump tweeted that he was “looking forward” to the latest batch of employment numbers an hour before they came out, signaling good news for investors. The post marked a departure from longstanding presidential practices, observers noted at the time.

The latest data means 2025 saw the weakest annual job growth since 2003, with just 584,000 jobs added last year.

Economists and career coaches agree: Recent college graduates should expect to work harder and longer to land their first job out of college. The total number of new jobs created in 2025 has trended downward since April, with the data for September not fully known because of the federal government shutdown that started on Oct. 1. Recent college graduates are likely to feel the brunt of a ...

Worker confidence in the ability to find a job has hit a record low. Employers in nearly every industry have cut back on hiring, according to the latest data, leaving job seekers with fewer places to turn. A recent jobs report extended a lackluster run of ...

Americans are feeling increasingly hopeless about their employment prospects, new survey data showed Thursday.

Ryan Jenkins, pictured above on Dec. 10, 2025, is the economic development coordinator for the city of Fairview Heights, Illinois. He encountered a rocky road on the path to finding a job. In July, Jenkins had an interview for the AmeriCorps VISTA program.

Each morning, Jake Fishman ’25 opens his laptop to repeat the same ritual. Scrolling through Handshake, LinkedIn and Indeed, he submits countless cover letters and resumes that, according to him, rarely get a response. Since graduating from Cornell’s ...

After years of plentiful employment opportunities, healthy pay bumps and pandemic savings-fueled spending sprees, American workers now face a sobering economic reality: It’s getting harder and harder to find work, and more and more industries are ...