Bessent Defends Job Losses, Citing Deportations and Manufacturing

During a Thursday interview on CNBC, Bessent argued that the economy no longer requires the same volume of job creation due to the closing of the border and the removal of migrant labor. He asserted that these policies ensure available positions are filled by domestic workers. However, federal data contradicts his claims, showing a decline of approximately 75,000 manufacturing jobs since the start of President Trump’s second term.

Economists have challenged the Treasury Secretary’s narrative, pointing to both statistical inaccuracies and internal policy contradictions. Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, noted that the employment rate for native-born Americans has fallen by a percentage point since the previous administration. Meanwhile, economist Tony Yates highlighted a paradox in the current rhetoric: if the administration previously justified deportations by claiming migrants were stealing jobs, the current claim that the labor market has shrunk because those workers are gone suggests a direct link between migrant presence and job availability that the administration previously denied.