Republican political consultant and pollster Frank Luntz, who helped with the messaging for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” reported this week on social media: “America is losing blue-collar jobs – something that last occurred during the early pandemic and the 2008-09 Great Recession. Employment across trades and industry is down -123,000 since early 2025, and has declined nearly every month since February.”
As seen below, Luntz amplified a graph created by economic analyst and data journalist Joey Politano of Apricitas Economics using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, titled: ‘Year-on-Year Change in US Blue Collar Employment.’ The sinking red line marks total blue-collar employment growth.
America is losing blue-collar jobs – something that last occurred during the early pandemic and the 2008-09 Great Recession.
Employment across trades and industry is down -123,000 since early 2025, and has declined nearly every month since February.
https://t.co/cDrfLmBQ2A pic.twitter.com/zXXIVsaAVR
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 6, 2026
Politano reported: “the biggest shift this year has been the rapid decline in construction sector job growth, which has only added 52k jobs over the last twelve months, compared to 191k the twelve months prior. Residential contractors—including plumbers, electricians, roofers, and other specialty workers—have seen by far the most dramatic shift, losing nearly 55k jobs over the last year alone.”
Note: In late December, referring to President Trump’s claim that affordability is a “hoax,” Luntz said on Squawk Box, “Regardless of whether you think it’s real or a ‘hoax,’ affordability will be the biggest issue of 2026.”
Luntz warned that with half of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay monthly bills, “that tells me that this economic insecurity and anxiety is real.”