WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 -- The American labor market shed jobs in July for the first time in years, a shift that inverts the economic narrative the Trump administration has relied on through the first half of 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000, a figure that landed 106,000 below what economists had forecast and ended a run of positive, if diminishing, monthly gains.

The result widens a pattern of deterioration. Unlike the June payroll report, which showed a modest 57,000 jobs added at the time, the July data is not merely slow; it is negative. And the BLS revised May and June sharply downward in the same release, cutting May's figure by 66,000 to 129,000 and June's by 37,000 to 57,000, a ...