This editorial was originally published by The Wall Street Journal and was distributed by The Associated Press.

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President Donald Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner last month because he didn’t like the monthly jobs numbers. He claimed the numbers were “rigged.” But the monthly report for August confirms that job creation has stalled amid his tariff barrage.

Employers added a mere 22,000 jobs last month while the numbers were revised down for the previous two by a combined 21,000. This means only 107,000 new jobs were created in the last four months — an average of 27,000. Monthly job gains averaged 167,000 last year.

Nearly all of the new jobs last month were in social assistance and health care (46,800), which rely on government spending. Industries with high

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