Here's what we learned from the January jobs report
Marketplace
Marketplace
4.6 • 8.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The January jobs report came out Wednesday, and on the surface, it was better than expected. The economy added more jobs than it has in months and the unemployment rate remained stable. But topline numbers don’t tell the whole story. After that: Trump’s immigration policies weigh on the labor market, Iran tensions cause choppy oil prices, and a new law brings whole milk back to school lunch programs.
Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.
Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Another day, another release of delayed government data as we try to piece together not just where this economy is heading, but where it's already been. |
| 0:11.8 | From American public media, this is Marketplace. |
| 0:26.2 | In New York, I'm Kristen Schwab in for Kyrisdal. |
| 0:28.4 | It's Wednesday, February 11th. |
| 0:29.6 | Good to be here with you. |
| 0:32.5 | All economic data is important. |
| 0:36.7 | But the data I just referred to at the top of the show is a biggie. |
| 0:38.9 | It's the employment situation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, aka the Jobs Report. We got January's numbers today, a little |
| 0:46.2 | late because of that little government shutdown. And to the delightful surprise of many, |
| 0:51.7 | the report looks solid. The economy added 130,000 jobs in January, |
| 0:57.8 | more than it has in months, and the unemployment rate fell a tad to 4.3%. So let's not delay this |
| 1:05.7 | delayed data any longer and go to Marketplace's Samantha Fields. On the surface, Heidi Shearholz at the Economic |
| 1:12.4 | Policy Institute says today's jobs report was good. It was one of the surveys that is showing, |
| 1:19.3 | OK, we are still humming along. But it also made her think, wait, what's going on? Because it was |
| 1:27.4 | different than what we've been seeing. |
| 1:29.2 | In 2025, on average, the economy only added about 15,000 jobs a month. |
| 1:34.8 | So what we saw in January was a big change. |
| 1:38.1 | It could signify that things are strengthening or it could be volatility in the data. We are really in a wait |
| 1:47.8 | and see moment. But Layla O'Kane at the nonprofit opportunity at work says it is a positive sign that |
| 1:55.1 | companies appear to have hired more in January than they have in a while. To me, this is sort of |
| 2:00.2 | tentative hope that the labor market is not going to go off the |
| 2:05.1 | cliff that people are concerned about. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.