A new report released Wednesday shows that small businesses experienced a six-figure drop in employment in the month of November as millions of Americans struggle with a worsening economy under President Donald Trump.
Payroll processor ADP’s survey of private employers found that companies with fewer than 50 employees lost a total of 120,000 jobs in November.
Overall, private-sector companies shed 32,000 jobs in November, making for the largest one-month drop since May 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Larger businesses gained jobs, offsetting some of the small-business slump. However, a survey of economists conducted by Dow Jones had expected a gain of 40,000 jobs in November.
During a conference call with reporters, ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said the employment data showed a “broad-based” economic “slowdown.”
“There would have been a net increase in hiring, but it is those mom-and-pop, Main Street companies, firms, small businesses, and establishments that are really weathering what is a uncertain macro environment and a cautious consumer,” Richardson explained.
The negative jobs data comes just a few days after the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing nine straight months of job losses in the manufacturing sector.
The small business and manufacturing job losses have occurred while Trump has pursued a strategy of increasing tariffs on goods imported to the United States. Economists and political leaders like former Vice President Kamala Harris had warned that tariffs would effectively work as a tax on consumers, raising the costs of goods and services—and would hurt the recovering economy. Trump went ahead anyway, and many nations, like China, have not bent to his will.
As concerns about affordability have increased, Trump has paid lip service to the issue. First describing himself as the “affordability president,” Trump lashed out on Tuesday by falsely alleging that the issue of affordability is a “fake narrative” and a “Democrat[ic] scam.”
When his first term ended in January 2021, Trump became the first president since World War II to experience a net job loss between his first and last days on the job.
Less than a year into his second term, Trump appears to be back on a similar path.
