U.S. job growth slowed sharply last month and the unemployment rate rose to a nearly three-year high of 4.3%, the latest sign of a cooling labor market, the government reported Friday.

Employers added 114,000 jobs in July, well below economists’ projections and down from an average monthly gain of 215,000 in payrolls over the previous 12 months, said the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The jump in the unemployment rate, from 4.1% in June and 3.5% in July 2023, came amid increasing concerns of a weakening economy as high interest rates meant to fight inflation continue to weigh on businesses and consumers. Investors were rattled by Friday’s jobs report, which comes on the heels of a big fall in stocks the day before.

The Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday that it could cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, but some analysts have said policymakers are already behind the curve and that it’s possible they could even make a move before then.

“The dark storm clouds threatening the economy have moved in from off shore suddenly and are very, very real,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, an economic and markets research firm. He warned of an impending recession.

The labor market has been unusually resilient and the unemployment rate remains low by historical standards. But the rapid increase from earlier this year, when the jobless figure was 3.7%, has revived worries of a recession among economists.

The slowdown in hiring last month was broad-based. Job growth was led by hiring in the healthcare sector. There were solid gains in construction and at hotels and restaurants.

But the struggling information sector, including the film industry and publishing, continued to shed jobs. Employment was flat in business and professional services, which include high-paying computer software and engineering firms, and there was little change in finance, retail and manufacturing.

Average hourly earnings of all private-sector jobs were up 8 cents from June, to $35.07, which is 3.6% higher than a year ago — a tad above the rate of inflation.

A pair of Black female activists, who have met with Vice President Harris several times and previously vowed to get “real serious” about helping her become the next president, could alienate some of the “White women for Kamala” supporters with their past rhetoric as they mobilize ahead of November’s election.

Cora Masters Barry, an appointee of Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and longtime civil rights activist, and Melanie Campbell, who leads the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, have visited the White House more than 50 times combined during the Biden administration, including nearly a dozen visits with Harris or her staff, a Fox News Digital review found.

Weeks before President Biden and Harris were sworn into office in 2021, Barry and Campbell participated in a public Zoom call in which they made controversial statements about Trump supporters and attacked White voters, specifically White women, which could cause some internal clashes as different coalitions mobilize to try to get Harris into the White House.

‘WE JUST TELL THE TRUTH’: VP HARRIS’ LONGTIME MENTOR REPEATEDLY DEFENDED CONTROVERSIAL OBAMA PASTOR

Approximately 164,000 White women hopped on a Zoom call last week, which was organized by Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts and other female celebrities. The call, titled “White Women: Answer the Call,” reportedly raised millions of dollars for Harris’ campaign and could be a major fundraising force over the next few months. 

However, the unearthed comments from the two activists could cause some internal tension for the Harris campaign as they look to mobilize different voting blocs and have called for “Unity.”

“If you claim to stand for unity, you need to do more than just use the word,” Harris recently said.

“We have to change our strategy. We got to get our people. We have to get our – they got their people. They got all the trailer parks all covered,” Barry said during the Zoom. “All them people up in West Virginia and the hills, they’re covered. They got them all the way there to Wall Street.”

“[Trump] did that, and we’re sitting here talking about the White women. F— the white women– excuse me – forget the White women. They’re going to do what the White men tell them to do,” Barry continued, eliciting laughter and clapping from Campbell.

“What they tell themselves,” Campbell interjected.

“They be smiling in their faces, they want to stay in charge,” Barry continued, with Campbell reacting affirmatively in the background. “I don’t care nothing about them, we got to do what we got to do.”

Barry went on to say that the Black community has to “get real serious about organizing to elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States” and that she doesn’t “want no women’s parade.”

“If they have another Women’s March – I’ll go over there and blow it up,” Barry said.

Barry also attacked supporters of then-President Trump, comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan by saying, “I’m not saying everyone who voted for Trump is wearing a white sheet, but they got one in their closet, and it comes out when we start messing with the economic value or the balance of power.”

FLASHBACK: HARRIS FUMED AT AMERICANS FOR SAYING ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ BEFORE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS GOT PROTECTIONS

Melanie Campbell and Cora Masters Barry participate in a meeting with Vice President Harris in 2021. (Melanie Campbell X account)

Barry went on to say at the time that, should Biden win the 2020 election, her group has “got to start organizing to make sure that the next president of the United States is a Black woman.”

“And that’s not going to happen if we don’t reach all of our Black people, because they’re the ones who are going to put her in there,” Barry added. “Those White folks ain’t going to put her in there.”

During the same Zoom call, Campbell was also critical of White women who have cast their votes for Trump, saying “race” and “White privilege” were driving factors and that she didn’t understand how they could support someone who “disrespects you as a woman.”

FLASHBACK: NEW HARRIS CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER MADE SEVERAL INSENSITIVE COMMENTS ABOUT WOMEN, GAY PEOPLE

“Am I surprised? No. Am I frustrated? Yeah – determined that we have to still find a way to get up and deal with it,” Campbell said. “What I’m not interested in doing is what I did, Cora, in 2016 is have these fruitless conversations with my White girlfriends who want to tell me we need to sit down and have a conversation. No we don’t. You need to go talk to your sister. You need to go talk to your cousin.”

“I have no interest in understanding why White folks do what they do. They do what they do because they doing what they do if I was them. They’re fighting to stay in charge and in control. That’s what they’re doing. I ain’t mad at them. What I am is mad at us,” Barry added, referring to the Black community.

Near the end of the Zoom call, Barry said it is a “perfect time” to mobilize Black voters and push their agenda “because there’s a lot of White guilt money out there.”

“I’m gonna take it- put it in my community and radicalize my people so they can come for your job. I’m saying it’s time to act,” she continued.

Fox News Digital previously reported on Cora Masters Barry praising antisemite religious leader Louis Farrakhan in 2022. (Getty Images/File)

In addition to Barry’s comments about White women, Fox News Digital previously reported on Barry lavishly praising notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan in 2022 at a private event honoring her late husband, former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry.

During Barry’s remarks at the private ceremony, she praised Farrakhan, who has espoused antisemitic rhetoric for decades, including calling Jews “wicked” and comparing them to termites. Barry referred to Farrakhan as a “friend” and “member of the family” while also telling him “I love you more than words will ever say.”

“Minister Farrakhan, we love you more than you love us. You just don’t know it,” she added.

The Anti-Defamation League labeled Louis Farrakhan the “most popular antisemite in America” in 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Farrakhan in turn praised Barry, saying, “Praise God for this woman. She is a treasure. A real treasure.”

A spokesperson for both Barry and Campbell defended the comment about White women, previously telling Fox News Digital that the comment was in reference to how White women are not as reliable Democrat voters and that the vice president was not part of the conversation.

Barry, Campbell and the Harris campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.

A group of U.S. lawmakers is meeting this week with Latin American counterparts to form a new multinational congress to tackle thorny cross-border issues such as climate change and migration throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Organizers say the newly formed Panamerican Congress will differ from the European Union Parliament because it won’t make laws for the region. Nor, they say, is it to be seen as an alternative to the Organization of American States, the largest regional body that is often criticized for supposedly being dominated by Washington.

Instead organizers hope the new body will create a fresh forum to brainstorm ideas and come up with policies to address persistent regional problems.

“Instead of the old model of the United States trying to dominate Latin America, we should be working with Latin America to survive climate change and address joint economic needs,” among other issues, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in an interview.

“We need new models to replace the Monroe Doctrine,” he added, referring to the 19th century U.S. policy that discouraged European interference in Latin America but was also used at times to assert U.S. dominance over the hemisphere.

In addition to the United States, seven other countries from around the hemisphere will be represented at the gathering in the Colombian capital of Bogota.

Casar is one of three Democratic U.S. Congress members — along with the chief of staff for a fourth — forming the delegation from here.

Besides Colombia, the other nations participating are Brazil, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Most are led by progressive governments, and their representatives at the congress are primarily from left-leaning political parties.

The three-day meeting will begin Saturday. Host country Colombia, governed by the first leftist president in its history, Gustavo Petro, will open the congress with Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.

It is being organized from Washington by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a progressive think tank, which invited a limited group of Democratic lawmakers who are focused on Latin America.

“The challenges plaguing our hemisphere — democratic backsliding, climate crisis, deep poverty, political violence, family displacement — are too urgent, too significant for any one nation to address alone,” Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, another member of the U.S. delegation, said in a statement. “The Panamerican Congress convenes the legislators and leaders from across the Americas committed to realizing a future of justice, peace, and stability throughout the continent — together.”

As an example of what the congress has the potential to do, Casar pointed to discussions he had with counterparts on the Amazon rainforest and the vast devastation the region is suffering. As a result, he lobbied in support of a Biden commitment of $100 million a year for five years for the Amazon Fund, a Brazilian investment initiative dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Amazon basin. (About $50 million was delivered to the fund, but ultimately the GOP-controlled House blocked additional money, Casar’s office said.)

“It is encouraging to see U.S. legislators, who have been largely absent from regional dialogue efforts historically, engaging in extensive discussions with their regional peers in a spirit of mutual respect and equality,” said Alex Main, who heads international policy for the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Casar said that the Biden administration has made progress in some areas, such as addressing the root causes of illegal immigration to the U.S. and taking steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels that are heating up the planet. But there’s still a long way to go, he added.

“We started to see a real shift, but in [the U.S.] Congress we are way behind,” he said. “We have to pick up the pace.”

It is unclear how much influence the Panamerican Congress ultimately can have. It will be seen as a progressive effort, which means there is little chance for bipartisan support in the U.S. There will probably be similar reluctance to participate in more conservative-led governments of Latin America and the Caribbean.