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US employers added 187,000 jobs in July, the lowest number since COVID peaked in 2020, the Labor Department said Friday.

The latest figures shown in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July report, released Friday, are a key indicator that the red-hot labor market is officially cooling after nearly 18 months of interest rate hikes — part of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening cycle to bring inflation back down to its pre-pandemic level of 2%.

Job openings last month mark a slight decrease from the 209,000 jobs added to the US economy in June, and a sharper drop from the robust 339,000 jobs that were gained in May.

The figures mark the slowest increase since December 2020, though the US is currently enjoying a 30-month streak of monthly job gains.

The government agency’s report also showed that unemployment was little changed month-over-month, to 3.5% from 3.6%.

Employment in healthcare added 63,000 jobs last month, increasing the most.

Jobs in construction, financial activities and wholesale trade also trended positively, the report showed.

Fed officials have warned that strong hiring can often fuel inflation if companies feel compelled to raise pay to attract and keep workers.

Thus, a slowdown in job growth and pay raises could help the Fed reach its 2% inflation target.

The Fed last week hiked interest rates to a 22-year high — to a range between 5.25% and 5.5% — and Powell suggested that further lifts could be imminent if officials though it were necessary to combat stubbornly-high inflation.

Friday’s report came in under what economists had expected.

They had forecast 200,000 new jobs in June with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.6%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Experts have long been forecasting that the jobs market would cool by the fourth quarter of the year, though bankers are shrugging off recession concerns as US consumers have reportedly been keeping up their loan payments.

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon said in an earnings conference call last month: “Even if we go into recession, theyre going with rather good condition, with low borrowings and good house price value still.”

Bank of America CFO Alastair Borthwick also said that “the consumers actually in pretty good shape,” citing elevated deposits and strong asset quality.

Powell has also said that Fed staff is no longer forecasting a recession.

We do have a shot for inflation to return to target without high levels of job losses, the Fed Chairman said.

However, when ratings agency Fitch shockingly downgraded the US’ top-tier sovereign credit rating from AAA to AA+ earlier this week, it pointed to a looming recession by the end of the year as reason for doing so.

The agency noted that it expects the US economy to slip into a mild recession from the fourth quarter of this year into the first quarter of 2024.

Tighter credit conditions, weakening business investment and a slowdown in consumption will push the US economy into a mild recession, Fitch said in the statement.

Fitch’s decision was bashed among top economists, with the likes of Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and CUNY economics professor Paul Krugman both calling the move “bizarre.”

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Science

Asteroids vs Comets vs Meteors vs Meteorites: What Are They and How Are They Different From Each Other?

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September 6, 2025

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Asteroids, comets, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites may seem similar, but each plays a unique role in the Solar System. Asteroids are rocky remnants, comets are icy wanderers, meteors are shooting stars, and meteorites are fragments that survive the plunge to Earth.

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World

Cable snapped in deadly Lisbon funicular crash, report finds

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September 6, 2025

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Cable snapped in deadly Lisbon funicular crash, report finds

A report into the deadly Lisbon Gloria funicular crash has said the cable linking the two carriages snapped.

The carriages of the city’s iconic Gloria funicular had travelled no more than six metres when they “suddenly lost the balancing force of the connecting cable”.

The vehicle’s brake‑guard immediately “activated the pneumatic brake as well as the manual brake”, the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents said.

Flowers for the victims in Lisbon. Pic: AP
Image:
Flowers for the victims in Lisbon. Pic: AP

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

But the measures “had no effect in reducing the vehicle’s speed”, as it accelerated and crashed at around 60kmh (37mph), and the disaster unfolded in less than 50 seconds.

Questions have been asked about the maintenance of the equipment, but the report said that, based on the evidence seen so far, it was up to date.

A scheduled visual inspection had been carried out on the morning of the accident, but the area where the cable broke “is not visible without dismantling.”

The Gloria funicular is a national monument that dates from 1914 and is very popular with tourists visiting the Portuguese capital.

The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon's Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint
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The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon’s Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint

It operates between Restauradores Square in downtown Lisbon and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood.

The journey is just 276m (905ft) and takes just over a minute, but it operates up a steep hill, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions.

How the disaster unfolded

At around 6pm on Wednesday, Cabin No.2, at the bottom of the funicular, “jerked backward sharply”, the report said.

“After moving roughly 10 metres, its movement stopped as it partially left the tracks and its trolley became buried at the lower end of the cable channel.”

Cabin No.1, at the top, “continued descending and accelerated” before derailing and smashing “sideways into the wall of a building on the left side, destroying the wooden box [from which the carriage is constructed]”.

It crashed into a cast‑iron streetlamp and a support pole, causing “significant damage” before hitting “the corner of another building”.

Cable failed at top

Analysis of the wreckage showed the cable connecting the cabins failed where it was attached inside the upper trolley of cabin No.1 at the top.

The cable’s specified useful life is 600 days and at the time of the accident, it had been used for 337 days, leaving another 263 days before needing to be replaced.

The operating company regards this life expectancy as having “a significant safety margin”.

The exact number of people aboard each cabin when it crashed has not been confirmed.

Britons killed in disaster

Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident, including another British victim who has not yet been named.

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Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.

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Sports

FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

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September 6, 2025

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FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

  • Andrea AdelsonSep 6, 2025, 01:51 PM ET

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    • ACC reporter.
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
    • Graduate of the University of Florida.

The father of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard was on the sideline Saturday for the Seminoles’ game against East Texas A&M.

Earl Pritchard and another family member were on the sideline wearing his son’s No. 35 jersey. Ethan Pritchard remains hospitalized in Tallahassee after surviving a gunshot wound to the head last weekend.

Florida State safety Earl Little Jr. brought out a No. 35 jersey to midfield for the coin toss, and Florida State players wore No. 35 wristbands to honor their teammate.

Defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. wore a T-shirt with Pritchard’s face on it during pregame warmups.

According to Earl Pritchard, Ethan Pritchard was driving his aunt home when he was shot in the back of the head in Havana, Florida, 16 miles from Tallahassee, on Sunday night.

The Seminoles routed East Texas A&M 77-3 on Saturday, after which coach Mike Norvell presented Earl Pritchard with the game ball, and asked him to break the rock – a tradition generally given to the player of the game after each Seminoles victory.

Norvell grew emotional as he discussed Pritchard during his postgame media availability.

“The way that he plays the game … he loves it, he absolutely loves it. To know that right now that’s taken away from him in a senseless act, you don’t always know why you have to go through things in life but I do believe God has his hand over Ethan and this football team,” Norvell said.

“To have Earl here today – He’s a wonderful man, and being with him I know it’s so very hard. I know it’s hard for anybody to have to go through, but he told me early in this week, ‘I know where my boy wants to be so I’m going to go stand in his place for him.'”

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