Slowing job growth and cooling wages suggest holiday spending resilience may be tested into early 2026.Two-thirds of U.S. consumers still live paycheck to paycheck, increasingly out of necessity rather than choice.Retail sales were flat in October as paycheck-to-paycheck households pulled back on discretionary categories.After weeks of delay, a fresh wave of government data is finally offering a clearer snapshot of how consumers and workers in the United States have weathered months of tariff uncertainty, h ...

Fed officials explained their opposition to the central bank's decision this week to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. ...

A lot of people interpreted your comments at the October meeting that you know when there's a foggy [clears throat] situation we slow down to mean that you know there wouldn't be a cut now there'd be a cut in January instead. So it'd be good to get a sense of why did the committee decide to move today rather than to move in January instead. Thank you.>> Right. So in October I said um that there was no certainty of moving and that was uh that was indeed correct. I said it's possible you could think about it ...

Core Insights - The labor market in America is cooling, with the gig economy absorbing some of the employment strain as traditional payroll growth slows [1][2] - Approximately 20% of individuals who experienced job loss or reduced hours turned to gig platforms for income support [2] - The gig economy is becoming a backstop for workers, with 15% of those classified as unemployed or "not in the labor force" actually engaged in gig work [6] Labor Market Trends - Over 153,000 job cuts were announced in October, marking the worst reading for that month since 2003 [3] - Private employers reported an average loss of 11,250 jobs per week for the four weeks ending October 25, a decline from earlier reports indicating job gains [4] - Companies have announced over 1.1 million layoffs in 2024, a 44% increase compared to the previous year, with significant reductions in tech and retail sectors [5] Gig Economy Dynamics - Gig hours have increased in cities where traditional payroll growth has slowed, indicating that workers are taking on extra shifts to compensate for lost income [2] - Gig workers earn only 50%-65% of what they made in traditional jobs, despite some marginal wage increases due to a decline in immigration [8] - Many gig workers face lower pay, instability, and lack of benefits, leading to a feeling of financial squeeze among Americans [7]