Job seekers in Inglewood, California, United States, on April 28, 2026. JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
Nearly a year and a half after Donald Trump's return to power, the US economy appeared much as it had before: moving forward through a haze of uncertainty driven by the administration's unpredictable policies, yet making progress.
The April labor market figures, released on Friday, May 8, confirmed this broad trend, already clear in March: the economy added 115,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate remained steady at around 4.3%. The recovery now appears to be gathering pace, with the US economy creating 100,000 more jobs since January 1 than during the entire sluggish year of 2025.
Across the United States, "resilience" has become the word most often used to describe this continued growth, with 2% at an annualized rate in the first quarter. Even though it is lower than at the end of Joe Biden's term, it is still well above other Western countries. "Honestly, we have not seen any big slowdown," said Kelly Anthon, a Republican lawmaker in Idaho, interviewed at the Select USA summit on foreign investment in National Harbor (Oxon Hill, Maryland). "We've been doing this through four presidential administrations. Everyone throws a curve ball or two of some kind, and everyone has winners and losers. But at the end of the day, the United States remains a really, really solid place to put capital."
