A Fox News host openly criticized the Trump administration’s economic narrative this week, sharing a grim jobs update with a biting dose of sarcasm.
Jessica Tarlov, co-host of “The Five,” reposted economic data showing a significant slowdown in hiring and unemployment hitting a four-year high, captioning it simply: “The Golden Age.”
Her remark came in response to a post by economist Heather Long, who outlined a troubling trend in U.S. job growth over the past several months.
“The US economy is in a hiring recession,” Long wrote on X. “Almost no jobs have been added since April. Wage gains are slowing. 710,000 more people are unemployed now versus November 2024.”
According to the latest Labor Department data, the U.S. added just 64,000 jobs in November.
That figure might seem like a gain, but it follows a 105,000 job loss in October and only modest numbers in previous months.
September saw a gain of 108,000 jobs, August dropped 26,000, and July and June were up only 72,000 and down 13,000, respectively.
Unemployment Hits a Four-Year High
Despite November’s slight rebound, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest it’s been since September 2021.
Economists had expected a gain of only 50,000 jobs for the month, and while the healthcare sector added 46,000 positions, other parts of the economy are clearly slowing.
More Americans are also being pushed into part-time work because they can’t find full-time positions.
In November, 5.5 million people were employed part-time for economic reasons, up by more than 900,000 since September.
Economic Pressures: Tariffs, AI, and Cost-Cutting
Long described the cause of the slump as a mix of “tariff impacts, AI, and cost cutting,” writing, “Americans are feeling it.”
Meanwhile, long-term unemployment remains a concern. In November, 24.3% of unemployed workers had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
That’s down slightly from August’s peak of 25.7% but still higher than the 23.1% rate from a year earlier.
Shutdown and Federal Job Cuts Skew the Picture
Some of the job losses stem from the federal government sector. October’s numbers were skewed by a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown, and the delayed impact of federal job cuts became evident.
The federal government lost 162,000 jobs in October and another 6,000 in November, according to the Labor Department.
Bank of America economist Shruti Mishra noted that many of these losses were due to the end of the “deferred resignation program,” with a large wave of federal resignations going into effect at the end of September.
Oxford Economics lead U.S. economist Nancy Vanden Houten added that the rise in the unemployment rate was also influenced by more people reentering the labor force. “Labor force growth also contributed to the increase,” she said.
‘Golden Age’ Criticism Grows Louder
Though President Donald Trump has touted a strong economy during his second term, critics argue that the recent numbers tell a different story.
With rising layoffs, slower wage growth, and more Americans stuck in part-time roles, many are finding the job market increasingly difficult to navigate.
And as Tarlov’s sarcastic “Golden Age” comment suggests, even some inside typically right-leaning media circles are starting to call out the disconnect between the administration’s optimism and the economic reality on the ground.
For many working Americans, the recent data only confirms what they’ve already been feeling: it’s getting harder to find stable, full-time work.
Even as the economy technically adds jobs, the type and quality of those jobs, and the growing pool of people looking for work, paint a more complicated picture.
While the administration has yet to respond directly to the new figures or the criticism from Tarlov and others, pressure is likely to grow as the public increasingly questions whether this really is the “Golden Age” they’ve been promised.
IMAGE CREDIT: “President Donald J. Trump and his national security team meet in the Situation Room of the White House” by Daniel Torok, The White House. Licensed under U.S. Government Work. Image adjusted for layout.