Tomorrow marks the first time the federal government has failed to release a jobs report two months in a row. Without these data, unemployment insurance claims provide the most up-to-date read on the labor market. As the shutdown drags on, continued UI claims by federal workers hits 30k. #EconSky

For useful analysis on the latest unemployment insurance claims data in the shutdown, check out @aimstettner.bsky.social's newsletter: substack.com/profile/1759...

Without BLS monthly jobs and JOLTS reports, unemployment insurance claims data provide the most up-to-date read on the labor market. As the shutdown continues, initial claims by federal workers shoot up for the third week in a row. Over 10k initial claims reported nationally last week. #EconSky

The latest #UIClaims show much higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers, up 156% for the week ending October 4—compared to the same week last year. The growth this year are due to federal layoffs, exacerbated this month by workers leaving federal payrolls and the shutdown.

Nothing replaces the comprehensive, trustworthy, and timely labor market data found in monthly jobs and JOLTS reports, but unemployment insurance claims—collected at the state level—offer a useful read on one key angle of the labor market. #EconSky #NumbersDay www.epi.org/blog/amid-th...

Latest #JOLTS data out this morning for August 2025 tells us job openings remained unchanged since July. Hires and quits both ticked down while layoffs and discharges held steady. The low hires rate is troubling, now at a rate similar to the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession. #EconSky

"Protecting worker power and advancing equity are intersecting goals, and both are essential to building better schools, and a thriving economy, that serves all communities," writes @adewalemaye.bsky.social @epi.org Learn more here: www.epi.org/blog/anti-eq...

In August, nominal wage growth ticked down to 3.7% while #inflation continued to rise up 0.6 percentage points since April and hitting 2.9% last month. Taken together, real wage growth has continued to fall. Real wage growth is now at 0.7% over the year, cut in half over the last 3 months. #EconSky

The preliminary benchmark revision of -911K amounts to -0.6% to March 2025 payroll employment. Combined with 2-month revisions, recent total revisions are big but hardly unprecedented, & smoothed over the business cycle the payroll survey has gotten more accurate over time.

BLS releases annual preliminary benchmark revision, something they do every year. #JobsReport estimates are based on employer survey responses, that arrive quickly. Later, BLS checks slow-arriving, more-reliable administrative data from employers' UI premium filings. www.bls.gov/news.release...

Seems Trump would be happy to agree job growth was lower than previously measured in the Biden administration. Revisions come from dedicated BLS economists using science and transparency, not bc of political ends, as @elisegould.bsky.social and @benzipperer.org explain www.epi.org/blog/todays-...

As we point out in a new report, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ attacks on basic needs programs that keep millions of children out of poverty will continue to expand these inequities – forcing children of color to inherit poverty for generations. www.epi.org/publication/...

Disparities in income continue to leave families of color with children disproportionately vulnerable to poverty. Black & Hispanic children remain 3 times as likely as their white peers to suffer poverty. #EconSky #NumbersDay

New Census 2024 income data show a mixed picture for families of color. Asian & Hispanic families saw their median income rise. But Black families experienced a fall. Typical Black & Hispanic households continue to earn just a fraction of their white peers' income. #EconSky #NumbersDay

There is simply no substitute for government data infrastructure. Pressure from the executive branch to alter data to fit political aims will damage a valuable public good that is critical for business decisions, policymaking, and planning by all stakeholders in the economy.

Some big #NumbersDay releases today—Just a reminder that the Census data are incredibly valuable. We get transparent and non-politicized data to make informed decisions about what policies are delivering economic security for working people.

About 8% of people lacked any form of health insurance in 2024. Unfortunately that rate will dramatically increase in the coming years, from 27 million to more than 40 million thanks to Republicans who cut Medicaid and ACA marketplace subsidies

The latest data out from #Census today show median earnings and median household incomes kept pace with inflation in 2024. Men's earnings rose 3.7% increasing the gender wage gap back to 2019 levels. Income grew at the top, but not the middle or bottom, reversing recent trends. #EconSky #NumbersDay

Today’s preliminary benchmark announcement from BLS reveals that job growth between March 2024 and March 2025 was half as fast as when it was first reported based on survey data. Read what @benzipperer.org and I wrote about those revisions and what they mean: www.epi.org/blog/todays-... #EconSky

The labor market continues to soften, according to the latest #JobsReport out this morning from the BLS. Payroll employment grew only 22,000 in August and revisions now show employment losses for June (-13,000). Over the last three months, job growth has slowed to just 29,000 on average. #EconSky

Ahead of #JobsDay tomorrow, Friends of BLS published a FAQ answering pressing questions like: Can the public trust BLS products? What's up with the firing of Dr. McEntarfer & nomination of Dr. Antoni? Why and how does the BLS revise jobs estimates? #EconSky www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...

The latest #JOLTS data for July 2025 shows a labor market very similar to June 2025. The BLS reports that job openings were little changed, falling slightly in July, while hires, quits, and layoffs and discharges were unchanged. Current rates remain a bit lower than last year. #EconSky @epi.org

Trump's war on immigrants shows up clearly in the data: the age 16+ immigrant popn has dropped 3.8%—1.9 million—since January. It's a moral catastrophe, and an economic one. Deporting 1 million immigrants per year will cost ~6 million jobs over Trump's term. www.epi.org/publication/...

To me, today's jobs report is what entering a recession looks like. Could we pull up? Sure. But if we look back and end up dating an official recession that starts 3-6 months from now, this is what it would look like today - rapid softening/deterioration in the labor market.

Big news in today's #jobs report are the revisions. The labor market is much weaker than originally reported the last two months. While payrolls grew 73k in July, May and June data were revised down a total of 258k to 19k and 14k, respectively, bringing 3-month average growth down to 35k. #EconSky

Today's #UIClaims data continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 59% for the week ending July 12 (compared to the same week last year). Hard to ignore when the divergence in trend began. #EconSky @epi.org

The latest #JOLTS data for June 2025 show most indicators little or unchanged since May. Job openings ticked down but have been flat for most of the last year, almost exactly the level of job openings as in June 2024. Other measures continue to be a bit softer than last year. #EconSky @epi.org

Today's #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 58% for the week ending June 21 (compared to the same week last year). #EconSky @epi.org

Congress is poised to pass one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. It will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax breaks that will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy. It is a staggering upward redistribution of income. 1/

Keep this in mind when looking at today's report. The report is for June, when many schools let out and begin summer vacation.

Given recent economic uncertainty private-sector gains were notably weaker in June, up just 74k. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% with another drop in the labor force. The only real boost was in state+local educ—maybe a seasonal quirk. More losses in manufacturing and federal jobs. #EconSky

Except for the accumulated separations in the federal government, there was little changed in the latest #JOLTS data for May 2025. Job openings ticked up slightly, but job openings have mostly been flat over the last year and are now just below where they were in May 2024. #NumbersDay @epi.org

New unemployment insurance claims steady at 248K after creeping up in recent weeks. Continuing claims up 3% to 1.956 million, consistent with hiring remaining weak. #NumbersDay

These data are also starting to show signs of Trump’s unconscionable war on immigrants. Since Trump took office, the age 16+ immigrant population has declined by 212k per month on average. (Over the same period last year, it grew by 192k per month on average.) 7/

The Hispanic unemployment rate (UR) remained steady at 5.1% in May. This figure is slightly higher than the UR at the start of 2025 (4.8% in January). While the UR of Latinos fell to 4.5% in May, the UR of Latinas increased marginally to 5.0%. #EconSky #NumbersDay #JobsDay

I think this point is key for today's #JobsDay. Gvt lost ~59k since January. That didn't translate to a big jump-scare in the unemp numbers yet, but we are eroding government capacity really quickly and it will surely take a toll on the services we count on.

Another “tale of two surveys” for #JobsDay. The payroll survey was solid—139k jobs added—while the household survey showed a huge drop in employment, -696k. (The unemp rate didn’t rise because the drop in employment was masked by people dropping out of the labor force.) 1/

The latest BLS data out this morning suggests the labor market remains relatively resilient compared to softer measures though the household survey shows some signs of weakness. - payroll jobs up 139k - federal jobs down 22k - labor force participation down 625k #EconSky #NumbersDay @epi.org

Today's #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 45% for the week ending May 17 (compared to the same week last year). #EconSky @epi.org

The latest #JOLTS data on job openings, hires, quits and layoffs showed little changed between March and April 2025. Except for the federal workforce—which has suffered 31,000 layoffs since January—the private-sector so far has held steady in the face of haphazard tariffs and spending cuts. #EconSky

Today's #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 42% for the week ending May 10. #EconSky @epi.org

Today's #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 36% for the week ending May 3. #EconSky @epi.org

Today's #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 38% for the week ending April 26. #EconSky @epi.org

There's no such thing as a mild recession for marginalized groups, as I told @cnet.com last week. Read more about my take on the latest economic data and risk of a recession: www.cnet.com/personal-fin... #EconSky

The hard data on the labor market remains far more resilient than softer measures have suggested in recent weeks. The unemployment rate held steady with a bump in labor force participation and employment. Payroll jobs grew by 177k, but losses continue in federal employment, down 26k since January.

Today's latest #UIClaims data out from the Department of Labor (www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) continue to show significantly higher continued unemployment insurance claims for federal workers than this time last year, up 30% for the week ending April 12. #EconSky @epi.org

Please let us know if they (or you) would benefit from additional wage/labor stats that we haven't added yet. We're continually adding new series and view it as a living document...

This @epi.org tool has a lot of useful info on wage and income by group, computed from the microdata data.epi.org

The latest #JOLTS data on job openings, hires, quits, and layoffs showed little changed overall between February and March 2025. But we can see signs of distress within the federal workforce. Job openings declined along with hires. And 27,000 federal workers have been laid off since January.

Labor market data has been slow to show signs of widespread economic distress. What will we see in this week's releases of #JOLTS #UIClaims and jobs data? www.epi.org/blog/what-to... #EconSky @epi.org