CONCLUDED Fed Meeting Today: Interest Rates, Quantitative Tightening, Powell Speech, and More Last Updated: 15 hours ago Fed Is Likely to Cut Rates Again as 'Insurance' Against a Weakening Economy By Topics Memberships Subscribe to Barron's Tools Cryptocurrencies Data Magazine Markets Stock Picks Barron's Live Roundtable Barron's Stock Screen Personal Finance Streetwise Advisor Directory Nicole Goodkind Fed Chair Jerome Powell. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest ...

Core Insights - The U.S. job market is showing signs of cooling, with a modest addition of 80,000 jobs expected for August, a slight improvement from July's 73,000 [2] - The unemployment rate is projected to remain low at 4.2%, indicating a reluctance among employers to hire or fire [2] - The economy has generated an average of 85,000 new jobs per month in 2025, down from 168,000 in 2024 and 400,000 during the hiring boom of 2021-2023 [2] - A significant portion of new jobs this year has been concentrated in the healthcare and social assistance sector, which accounts for nearly 80% of private sector job growth [2] Labor Market Dynamics - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits has risen to the highest level since June, suggesting potential layoffs [2] - U.S.-based employers have announced over 892,000 job cuts through August 2025, surpassing the total of 761,000 for all of 2024 [2] - The Labor Department's revisions to previous job reports have raised concerns, with a reduction of 258,000 jobs from May and June payrolls [4] Data Collection Challenges - The response rate from companies to Labor Department surveys has declined from about 60% a decade ago to only 40% now, complicating data accuracy [4] - This issue is not unique to the U.S., as other countries, including the U.K., have faced similar challenges in collecting labor data post-COVID-19 [4]