On the first Friday of every month, the U.S. Department of Labor releases its jobs report. On June 6, President Trump’s Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer appeared on Fox Business to discuss the data for May.
When host Stuart Varney told Chavez-DeRemer, “Now 8,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in May. That’s not what you wanted to see,” Chavez-DeRemer responded: “Well, we’re certainly holding steady.”
She added, “The focus of my America at Work tour is to increase those manufacturing jobs and we’ll continue to stay laser focused on that as the President continues to double down on how important this is to the American economy.”
Varney pointedly asked: “But how come we’re losing 8,000 manufacturing jobs in May when there’s a big push to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. How come we’re losing those jobs?”
When Chavez-DeRemer repeated her previous answer, “We’re certainly holding steady,” Varney raised both his eyebrows.
Chavez-DeRemer added, “That focus on building manufacturing plants, it will take some time.”
VARNEY: 8,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in May. That’s not what you wanted to see.
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: Well, we’re certainly holding steady.
VARNEY: But how could we’re losing those jobs?
CHAVEZ-DeREMER: Well, we’re certainly holding steady. pic.twitter.com/Hlzsjx9rVZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 6, 2025
She added, without presenting specific examples: “the President is doing a wonderful job in negotiating, um, the level playing field, um, as far as the tariff discussions have gone, but those onshoring of those jobs, we’re seeing tens of trillions of dollars being reinvested here in the United States.”
And then she said: “And I will continue to focus on that skilled workforce as those manufacturing jobs continue to grow.”
Many on X are voicing disapproval over the Secretary’s comments. As one replied: “The manufacturing slump proves Trump’s tariffs backfired—8,000 jobs lost in May alone.” Another wrote: “Steady decline isn’t stability—it’s failure.”