Unemployment

The outlook for the job market — and the entire economy — is presently being clouded by war in the Middle East.

Economists say numbers that will be released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on unemployment and wage growth will help them get a sense of consumer’s spending power going forward.

“Unemployment is not a problem for our system,” said University of Tulsa professor Clara Mattei. “It's actually a solution for it.”

Whether you feel good about the job market probably depends on your industry.

There are now more unemployed people than job openings, which is landing particularly hard on young jobseekers.

Amazon, Dow, UPS, Pinterest, and T-Mobile are among the many companies to announce layoffs in the last couple of weeks.

A lot of crucial employment reports were expected to come out this week, but the partial shutdown has delayed that.

The low-fire, low-hire job market is making it hard for young people to enter the workforce.

The percentage of Americans out of work for 27 weeks or longer hit 26% in December. It's more evidence of a low-hire, low-fire economy — and that AI is starting to replace certain jobs.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 16,000, to 199,000, well below what economists were expecting. It’s the second-lowest reading in the last two years.