Morning Joe’s Jonathan Lemire Visibly Stunned by ‘Brutal’ Jobs Report: ‘No Way To Sugarcoat This!’

Morning Joe co-host Jonathan Lemire was left stunned as news of August’s “brutal” job report broke, adding there was “no way to sugarcoat” what he described as “serious warning signs” for the labor market.

The economy added just 22,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, extending a summer slowdown as businesses grappled with the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

August’s report also showed unemployment ticked up to 4.3 percent, the highest level in four years. While healthcare gained 31,000 positions, most other sectors either stagnated or shed jobs.

Speaking on Friday’s Morning Joe, Lemire could not hold back his shock as he relayed the statistics:

The August jobs report was released moments ago, showing that the U.S. Added just 22,000 jobs last month much, much less than the 75,000 that economists expected. The unemployment rate also saw a slight increase to 4.3%.

This, of course, the first jobs report released since President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month. After that report showed not just a weak level of job creation, but also a dramatic reductions in previous month’s totals.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this. This job’s report is brutal.

The second round of punishing statistics comes after Trump dismissed the July report and its revisions as “rigged in order to make the Republicans, and me, look bad.”

But August’s weak numbers show the slowdown has persisted even after he ousted the bureau’s commissioner in retaliation. He has since nominated a conservative ally involved in drafting Project 2025 to lead the agency.

Watch above via MSNBC.