ONE YEAR IN: More Expensive & Less Free
But together we keep fighting back
Written by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler
During his first year in office, President Trump and his allies ruthlessly committed to turning the Project 2025 agenda from a plan into reality. The administration committed the single biggest act of union-busting in history, launched a brutal assault on immigrants and communities across the country, and attacked our most fundamental rights, including the freedom of speech. It has ripped health care from millions, made billionaires richer and corporations more powerful, moved to unleash untested artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and dismantled government agencies that provide essential services.
And every day in the Trump economy, working people are struggling to get by. President Trump promised to “make America affordable again,” but instead spent his first year driving up costs, holding down wages and letting jobs disappear.
One year into President Trump’s second term, working people’s lives are more expensive and less free.
Trump has governed for and by the billionaire CEOs and Big Tech companies, making the wealthy and powerful even richer while working people across the country struggle to get by.
But throughout the year the Meidas Mighty and workers successfully fought back and we will keep fighting together to elect leaders who will help us build an economy for workers, not billionaire bosses.
And for those of you who are in Minnesota we hope you will join us on Friday, January 23rd for a Day of Truth & Freedom.
WORKERS ‘SCRAPING FOR CRUMBS’ AS COSTS RISE FASTER THAN PAYCHECKS
Costs Climb as the Trump Administration Undercuts Workers’ Pay
President Trump promised working people he would “end inflation” and “get the prices down.” Instead of lower costs and better jobs, working people are being crushed by rising prices. While Trump funneled $2.3 trillion in tax giveaways to the top 10% of Americans, rising costs are pricing workers out of basic goods.
The Data:
Sixty-two percent of workers say their income isn’t keeping up with prices, and one in four households are living paycheck to paycheck.
Decades of employers suppressing wages so that bosses and owners could take home more of the profit workers generate is having an impact. Just 54% of Americans say they are satisfied with their wages, the lowest level since records began in 2014.
The Trump administration stopped enforcement that protects workers’ overtime pay, workers’ comp and more.
What Working People Are Saying
Anissa, a 26-year-old in Pennsylvania: “It feels like everything is just closing in around us, honestly. I work two jobs, my partner works two jobs, and it just feels like we are [s]craping for crumbs here.”
Demetri, a yard driver at a warehouse working 72-hour weeks to get by, was forced to cut back on food to save money: “It’s not optional. It’s mandatory for me to work the hours that I work because of the rise in cost of living. It shouldn’t be that way, especially for food. I mean you gotta eat.”
‘EVERY TIME I BLINK IT GOES UP,’ MAKING IT HARD TO ‘JUST SURVIVE’
The Price Tag for Basics like Food and Electricity Keeps Going Up
On the campaign trail, President Trump told workers that “a vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper” and pledged to cut energy and electricity prices by at least half within a year. One year into his presidency, food prices are climbing at the fastest pace since 2022, and this winter, home heating bills have risen at double the rate of inflation.
The Data:
In a survey, more than 2 in 3 respondents say they’re struggling to pay grocery bills, as prices have gone up in five out of six major food-at-home categories.
Three in four Americans say groceries are so expensive they’ve been forced to cut back on other spending, and the Trump administration predicts food prices will continue to rise in 2026.
Past due balances to utility companies are up nearly 10%, with nearly 14 million Americans in utility debt so severe that it “was sent or soon will be sent to collections.”
What Working People Are Saying
Michelle, a teacher in Minnesota: “Since the price of eggs, bacon have gone up, we’ve done a lot more cereal. I’ve had to take on a second job just because everything has gotten so expensive.”
Scott, an autoworker in Michigan: “You know, [y]our food went up. Gas went up. Our wages went down. Utility bills have went up. Groceries are sky high.”
‘[H]OPES AND DREAMS SEEM SO FAR OUT OF REACH’
Rising Costs Force Workers to Take on Crushing Debt
President Trump said he would “put more money into [workers’] pockets,” with “soaring incomes” and “skyrocketing wealth.” One year in, workers are facing record levels of debt—while billionaires got $1.5 trillion richer. The administration’s billionaire-first agenda denies workers their basic rights on the job and undermines their ability to get ahead.
The Data
A record-high number of Americans are overdue on car payments, as home foreclosures jumped 20% from 2024.
Sixty-two percent of workers say their income isn’t keeping up with prices, and pay growth for lower-income workers has slowed.
The One Big Beautiful Bill, the president’s signature policy, delivers $1 trillion in tax cuts to the top 1% by forcing 15 million people to lose health insurance and likely exposing more than 22 million people to food insecurity.
What Working People Are Saying
Megan, a data entry worker in Missouri: “How do people get ahead in this kind of climate? [H]opes and dreams seem so far out of reach. That’s insane to me, I don’t see how normal everyday working families can move up. It’s like we are all just stuck.”
Randis, an operations supervisor at a distribution center in Tennessee: “I’ve used [l]oans for groceries and even to pay my phone bill. When everything has gotten so expensive — groceries, gas — it makes my life easier to use these loans to buy my groceries or whatever else I need at that moment.”
‘I FEEL INVISIBLE…THE JOB MARKET HAS SHOWN NO MERCY’
Under President Trump, Job Growth Stalls and Unemployment Climbs
President Trump said he would “bring jobs back like nobody’s ever seen,” promising to “create millions and millions of new jobs” and reinvigorate the labor market. Instead, more than 1 million corporate layoffs were announced last year, employers have done “almost no hiring since April” and the number of long-term unemployed people surged to the highest level since “the nation was…reeling from the pandemic.”
The Data:
This year, Trump ushered in “the worst year for hiring outside of a recession since 2003,” with “almost no hiring since April.”
Despite promises to “turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower,” the United States lost 68,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025, including job losses every month since April.
As Trump took unlawful action to advance his billionaire-first AI Action Plan, CEOs felt empowered to use AI as an excuse to kill more than 60,000 jobs in 2025.
The Trump administration cut off funding and canceled projects that would have created a decade of union jobs in energy and a pathway to the middle class, while launching a brutal assault on immigrant workers that cost jobs across industries.
What Working People Are Saying
Aubrey: “I feel invisible because despite serving my country, despite being a veteran, the job market has shown no mercy….I want more for my kids than just giving them the bare minimum. But it makes me emotional because I just want them to have so much more. And it hurts telling them no.”
Heidi, laid off and applying to jobs from 8 a.m.-–5 p.m. every day in Tennessee: “I think I’ve done about 56 to 60 jobs already. And I’ve only had seven callbacks. So, it’s just been really disheartening.”
‘HE’S AN ENEMY OF WORKING PEOPLE, HE IS NOT A FRIEND’
Workers Reject Trump’s ‘A+++’ Economy
As costs rise, jobs disappear and debt mounts, and confidence in President Trump’s economic leadership has cratered. Working people are ready to hold the president and his allies accountable for their billionaire-first agenda—and its devastating consequences for the economy—in 2026.
The Data
At the end of 2025, 72% of Americans said the economy is poor, with 61% agreeing that the Trump administration’s policies have made it worse.
After a year under the president’s “billionaire-first” agenda,” only 38% of Americans believe that Trump cares about “people like you,” and 65% of Americans believe that the Trump administration’s policies favor the wealthy.
As Trump touts renovations to the White House––from the ballroom to the bathrooms––nearly 6 in 10 Americans say that he is focusing on the wrong things.
What Working People Are Saying
Nick, a painter in Rhode Island: “It doesn’t seem like he’s worried about me….He’s an enemy of working people, he is not a friend.”
Jeanette, a 74-year-old retiree in New York: “More and more people are going to be out on the streets, because they aren’t going to be able to afford it––medicine, food, taxes, services, everything is going up.”
Liz Shuler is the president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S.
How come the whole world knows what Trump is and Congress does nothing????
I thought that if President Trump or Trump, I hate calling him president set foot in Switzerland that they were going to arrest him for war crimes. Why is he there giving a speech why when he’s out of the country are they not arresting him for war crimes which we know he is Guilty enough?