Labor market anxieties grow
Marketplace
American Public Media
4.6 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The job market has been steadily losing steam and workers have noticed. Though the unemployment rate remains fairly low, some groups are experiencing heightened job-finding trouble, and overall employment sentiment is falling. In this episode, are job market worriers paranoid or prophetic? Plus: Nvidia CEO announces new AI chips won’t require as-expensive cooling systems, car sales were up in 2025, and economists study why new tariffs haven't dinged the economy much — yet.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My place in tech changes every day, but I don't fear the future, because I'm with the leader, Pluralsight. |
| 0:08.7 | Their online learning platform has the hands-on expert-led courses I need to master new tech skills and create bigger impacts. |
| 0:17.3 | So I can learn quickly and stay ahead. |
| 0:21.0 | With Pluralsight, I don't fear what's next. |
| 0:24.0 | I embrace it. |
| 0:25.6 | Tap in at Pluralsight.com and see for yourself. |
| 0:32.1 | Tariffs are back on the program today. |
| 0:35.1 | After a short time away, we'll do jobs as well, and one more visit to Altadena. |
| 0:41.8 | From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. |
| 0:50.8 | In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizzdahl. It is Wednesday. Today, this one is the 7th of January. Good as always, to have you along, everybody. |
| 1:03.3 | Hey, don't look now, but come Friday, we're going to get the December jobs report on time, which is nice. |
| 1:13.9 | Today, we got some hints as to what it might look like. |
| 1:19.2 | The payroll processing company ADP said private sector companies added jobs last month, |
| 1:25.9 | 41,000 of them, not a ton in an economy the size of this one, but we'll take it. Also, |
| 1:29.5 | jolts came out today. That is, of course, the job openings and labor turnover survey, which show job openings fell to a more than one year low in November, |
| 1:34.8 | but layoffs fell as well. It's more of that low-fire, low-hire labor market we keep hearing about. |
| 1:40.8 | There is, though, something else that's important as well, and it cannot be ignored. |
| 1:45.4 | How worried people might be about holding on to their jobs and their income. Marketplace's |
| 1:50.9 | Mitchell Hartman starts us off with that one. All through the latter part of 2025, the job market |
| 1:56.1 | was losing steam, says Bill Adams at Comerica Bank. Job growth hit an air pocket and has really been in |
| 2:03.3 | low gear since April of this past year. And he says the working public is noticed. People are more |
| 2:09.2 | worried about job security. They're less upbeat about the prospects of being able to find a new job. |
... |
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