$META by contrast heading in the other direction with headcount declining to 75,472, -3.2% QoQ which is the largest decline since Q3 2023. And that doesn't capture ~8,000 employees laid off in May who will roll off payrolls in next quarter's results. Source: investor.atmeta.com/investor-new...

Alphabet ($GOOG) employee count rose to 198,933 in Q2 2026, +2.2% QoQ, which is the fastest rate of increase since Q3 2022 before big tech layoffs started ramping up at the end of that year. Source: s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/fi...

Any food reporters out there want to write a piece on corkage fees as a recession indicator? 😅 www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypoli...

GLP-1 mention in the Beige Book today www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypoli...

In the Indeed data, ~1 in 4 data center postings are for installation & maintenance jobs, which offer a wage premium of ~$10 more per hour compared to other installation & maintenance jobs. www.hiringlab.org/2026/07/14/h...

Indeed Hiring Lab research shows data center job postings have tripled from 0.2% of total postings in Jun '24 to 0.6% in Jun '26 (applied to latest JOLTS level, that would imply ~45,000 postings). www.hiringlab.org/2026/07/14/h...

Indeed Hiring Lab data shows job postings for AI-exposed occupations have fallen more rapidly from May 2022–May 2026. But in the last year, that has reversed as job postings have rebounded for certain AI-exposed occupations (e.g., software engineers). Source: www.hiringlab.org/2026/07/08/a...

NY Fed survey indicates tariff passthrough is not done yet: firms expect to still be raising prices to pass through tariff costs over the next 6+ months. Source: libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/07/more...

Employee sentiment rebounded slightly in June from the record low in May. According to the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index, 44% of employees reported a positive business outlook for their employers, up from 43.7% in May. Still very dour despite the modest firming in the last 3 jobs reports.

Bank of America Institute research shows a much stronger improvement in jobs growth in June (and April & May for that matter) than BLS data shows. Source: institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...

@sassermodestino.bsky.social had a nice research summary of the benefits of summer youth employment programs. Source: econofact.org/do-summer-yo...

Source: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

i'd heard AI was increasing litigation but didn't expect this...

Maybe one modest bright spot in today's report is that, as the Class of 2026 enters the job market, the unemployment rate for workers age 20–24 fell slightly to 7.1% from 7.2% in May (and 8.2% in June 2025). 11/

FWIW, household survey swings seem large, so I would caution against over-interpreting based on 1 month. We will want to see how they look in coming months. No obvious issue with response rates to explain the swings: rates are low but not unusually so vs. recently. data.bls.gov/timeseries/L... 10/

The unemployment rates by race were not significantly different from May to June. Slight uptick for Asian & Hispanic/Latino workers, slight downtick for white workers, flat for Black workers. These measures are volatile month-to-month, so I would not regard the June changes as significant. 9/

Sometimes declining labor force participation can be chalked up to the aging of the workforce. Not so in June: prime-age (25–54) LFP was down sharply to 83.3%, lowest since March 2025. Similarly, the prime-age employment-population ratio fell to 80.2%, lowest since Dec 2022. 8/

The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in June, down from 4.3% in May, but it fell for the wrong reasons. The decline was driven in part by the labor force participation rate falling sharply to 61.5%, lowest since March 2021. 7/

Average hourly earnings grew 3.5% year-over-year in June, a tick up from 3.4% in May. Likely to come in at zero or negative after adjusting for inflation due to higher energy prices, when the June CPI report is released July 14. 6/

With a longer view, the 1st half of 2026 is still looking better than H2 2025 w/ improvement in a variety of industries: prof & biz services, edu, construction, mfctg, retail, transportation, govt. Information (includes tech + media), finance, leisure & hospitality are softer 5/

It had also seemed like jobs growth was broadening out beyond health care. It's just one month, but June is back to the old trend of health care & social assistance driving most of our job gains (82%). 4/

Payroll growth has slowed over the last few months, with revisions especially disappointing given that the initial reports had provided hope that the job market may have been reaccelerating. Jun: +57,000 May: +129,000, down from +172,000 Apr: +148,000, down from +179,000 3/

Vanguard estimates the net hire rate* at effectively zero in June. Net hire rate is also sharply worse for 21–24 yr olds, worst since early pandemic days. *Don't know how well this data stacks up over time, esp bc it's limited to 401(k) workers Source: corporate.vanguard.com/content/corp...

Layoffs & discharges were mostly flat in May, up very slightly to 1,708,000 in May from 1,667,000. Layoffs remain near pre-pandemic levels without signs of rapidly rising layoffs. 5/

Job openings were essentially unchanged in May at 7,594,000 from 7,585,000. The spike in professional & business services in April was revised to a more modest but still large increase (+438,000 over last 2 months vs. +668,000 initially reported last month) bsky.app/profile/dani... 3/

Hires and quits rates were unchanged in May. The April hires rate was revised up to 3.3%. Both remain relatively unchanged over the last year and on the softer side, compared to the 2010s expansion. 2/

Indeed Hiring Lab data has a slight cooling in job postings at the end of May into mid June. Their posted wage growth data has also been softer than BLS' in level (2.4% vs. 3.4% year-over-year respectively), but Indeed's is trending up while BLS's is trending down www.hiringlab.org/2026/06/18/u...

For the first time, sentiment around AI in Glassdoor reviews is net-negative with 53% of mentions being negative. Sentiment has clearly soured since 2022 with a sharp decline so far in 2026. 2/3

Mentions of AI in Glassdoor reviews have skyrocketed, more than tripling (3.4x) year-over-year as of May 2026. It surpassed inflation as a topic in 2025, bypassed burnout and is now nearing layoffs. 1/3

Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings declined for the 3rd straight month in May as rising energy prices eat away at wage gains. Over the year, inflation-adjusted wages have declined 0.7%. Source: www.bls.gov/news.release...