Episode Overview

Podcast: Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Host: Scott Becker
Episode Title: The U.S. Job Market Gets Crushed
Date: September 5, 2025

In this episode, Scott Becker offers a succinct but urgent assessment of the U.S. job market as of August 2025. He analyzes troubling employment numbers, connects them to macroeconomic factors such as deficit spending and inflation, and provides listeners with his frank, immediate reactions to these economic signals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Alarming Job Creation Data

• The U.S. added only 22,000 new jobs in August 2025
  • Scott Becker: "The U.S. job market in August only created 22,000 new jobs. That's a horrendously low number." [00:39]

2. Rising Unemployment and Economic Concerns

• Unemployment rate has risen to 4.3%
  • Scott Becker: "We also saw unemployment going up by 4.3%." [00:44]
• This stagnation is especially disturbing given continued deficit spending
  • Scott Becker: "If you got this tremendous deficit spending going on, just like we did under the Biden administration, but we're not creating any jobs, then for all practical purposes we're wasting and throwing away a lot of that deficit spending." [00:52]

3. Deficit Spending & Effectiveness

• Becker criticizes the inefficiency of ongoing high deficit spending in the absence of job growth
  • Scott Becker: "It's really a bad, bad situation." [01:08]
• Connects current trends to policies under the Biden administration, discussing how government spending does not automatically translate to positive economic outcomes if job growth is absent

4. Contributing Factors

• Suggests possible causes for weak job growth
  • Points to artificial intelligence and 'other things' as culprits (not deeply explored in this brief episode)
  • Scott Becker: "In some of this you could blame on AI. You can blame it on other things." [01:15]

5. Federal Reserve and Possible Rate Cuts

• Predicts the Federal Reserve may lower interest rates in response
  • Scott Becker: "I guess the only positive here is that this will lead the Fed to reduce the fed funds rate to try and goose the economy a little bit." [01:20]

6. Risks of Inflation

• Warns this combination of deficit spending and potential rate cuts could keep inflation high, even in a stagnating job market
  • Scott Becker: "...the combination of that with deficit spending means that you'll probably still have inflation even though you've got a very slow job market." [01:28]

7. Overall Sentiment

• The tone is candidly pessimistic
  • Scott Becker: "Really a very depressing situation. Sorry for being so negative today." [01:34]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The U.S. job market in August only created 22,000 new jobs. That's a horrendously low number." — Scott Becker [00:39]
• "If you got this tremendous deficit spending going on, just like we did under the Biden administration, but we're not creating any jobs, then for all practical purposes we're wasting and throwing away a lot of that deficit spending." — Scott Becker [00:52]
• "In some of this you could blame on AI. You can blame it on other things." — Scott Becker [01:15]
• "...the combination of that with deficit spending means that you'll probably still have inflation even though you've got a very slow job market." — Scott Becker [01:28]
• "Really a very depressing situation. Sorry for being so negative today." — Scott Becker [01:34]

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:31 – 00:44: Introduction by Scott Becker and overview of current jobs data
• 00:44 – 01:08: Discussion of rising unemployment and criticism of deficit spending
• 01:15 – 01:20: Speculation on causes, including AI
• 01:20 – 01:28: Prediction about Fed response and risk of lingering inflation
• 01:34: Closing remarks and apologetic note on the negativity of the outlook

Conclusion

Scott Becker delivers a concise yet sobering snapshot of the U.S. job market, making clear his concerns about weak job creation, the potential futility of deficit spending in the current environment, and the risk of ongoing inflation. The episode is marked by Becker’s signature directness, providing listeners with a quick but thorough understanding of the economic challenges facing the U.S. as of September 2025.