Oil prices are spiking, and the job market is contracting. That’s a dangerous combination for President Donald Trump as Republicans gear up for midterm elections that will be defined by concern about the economy.
The Labor Department on Friday said U.S. employers shed 92,000 jobs in February and lowered estimates for the previous two months, a downside surprise that erases the substantial gains the White House had celebrated only last month. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent.
With the Iran conflict having pushed oil prices close to $85 a barrel, economists are warning that the combination of shocks could weaken the economy.
E.J. Antoni, the chief economist at The Heritage Foundation and Trump’s first pick to lead the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, called it an “UGLY jobs report.”
