Is the U.S. Job Market Weaker Than It Looks?

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

P.M. Edition for July 2. The U.S. has been adding jobs at a respectable clip, though the pace has been slowing. But WSJ economics reporter Justin Lahart reports that the labor market is showing other signs of softness. Plus, Tesla reports disappointing second quarter numbers, following months of declining sales. WSJ reporter Becky Peterson discusses why investors are still optimistic about the company. And Sean “Diddy” Combs was found not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking but was convicted of less serious offenses. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.5	why the u.s job market may be weaker than it looks. Plus, Tesla posts disappointing sales numbers for the second quarter.
0:41.1	There's a lot of commentary that this is a response to the politics and the brand damage
0:46.2	after Musk spent time in Washington.
0:49.3	But this quarter, we also saw that EV sales were falling across different brands.
0:54.7	And music mogul Sean Diddy Combs is found not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
1:00.6	It's Wednesday, July 2nd.
1:02.6	I'm Alex Osloff for the Wall Street Journal.
1:04.5	This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
1:16.1	Music News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. New data from ADP showed that American employers cut 33,000 jobs last month, that undershot
1:22.6	economists' expectations of job growth and was the first pullback since March 23. That data comes ahead of the Labor
1:29.8	Department's monthly jobs report out tomorrow a day earlier than usual because Friday is a holiday.
1:35.1	Economists expect that tomorrow's job numbers will show that the economy added 110,000 jobs
1:39.7	in June. But WSJ economics reporter Justin Layhart reports that this job market may be weaker than it
1:46.1	looks. Justin, do the ADP numbers out today change your expectations for tomorrow's labor
1:51.6	department data? There are different surveys, looking at different things. ADP is not trying
1:57.8	to predict what the labor department's number is, but it does give a good
2:03.7	reading on the state of the job market, and it's saying things have gotten softer.
2:08.5	You write that the headline jobs number could be overstated, in fact. Why is that?
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