America's blue-collar workforce is shrinking

America's blue-collar workforce is shrinking, as President Trump's policies hit the same sectors he vowed to reinvigorate.

Why it matters: Hiring is stalling out nearly across the board amid drastic shifts in trade and immigration policies. But perhaps nowhere is it more apparent than in the labor sectors that expected a Trump-era boost.

By the numbers: The labor market's summer hiring drought was particularly painful for industrial parts of the economy. • The "manufacturing recession" — underway for years — got uglier. The sector lost 12,000 jobs in August, the fourth consecutive month of shrinking employment. The industry had 78,000 fewer workers last month, relative to the same period a year ago. • Construction shed jobs for the third straight month. Wholesale trade — a sector tha