The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Employment Situation report for October, revealing that payroll in the US increased by 150,000 jobs.
The increases occurred in health care, social assistance, and government. The unemployment rate remained little changed at 3.9%.
“Private employers are parking,” Andrew Crapuchettes, RedBalloon CEO, said. “In these choppy economic conditions, they are just trying to hold onto the people they have. This confirms the trend we have been seeing in the Freedom Economy Index, which is a joint survey with PublicSquare of over 70,000 small businesses. Record amount of small business owners are shelving their hiring plans.”
“According to our October survey, 68% of employers neither plan to hire nor reduce staff, which indicates that they are entering a holding pattern. Many of these companies are worried about a recession. Our data shows that nearly 94% of them worried about some kind of a recession,” Crapuchettes added.
“Additionally, given the strong GDP report, I would have expected a higher jobs number,” Crapuchettes continued.
Once again, the boots-on-the-ground perspective of the FEI has been confirmed, showing its ability to predict market trends ahead of the curve.
Download your full copy of the October Freedom Economy Index here.
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