🎣💼 Job Market Is Reeling It In
Hello all!
I hope you are well. We recently crossed the 6,000 subscriber mark and I am so happy that you guys join us for our Wednesday and Sunday newsletters. I started this newsletter about 2 years ago kind of just to “try it out”, but recently as Tim and Rickie have been helping me write it on a weekly basis - I’m consistently proud of the content and stories we bring you on a weekly basis.
Let us know if there are any particular things you like, or suggestions you may have for us in the future, we’re always looking to improve the publication.
In more personal news this week, we are planning to make more videos “in real life” on the main YouTube channel (Humphrey Yang channel) so that we can showcase education around finance/money in an entertaining way. Our first video will be trying a side hustle, breaking it down for you, and ultimately showing if it’s a good way to make money or not.
We’ll keep you updated on the release of that, for now it’s in the planning stages. I hope you enjoy this week’s edition of Hump Days 🐫
I guess that wasn’t personal news. So if you do want some personal news… hmmm. My Philz coffee is inconsistent this morning, I’m working on building a Notion finance template tracker (will share it with y’all when done), and I’m thinking about what to eat for dinner 🙃
- Humphrey, Rickie & Tim
In the Markets
Featured Story
There is no shortage of data being released that gives the public some sense of how the economy is doing at scale. In our last edition of Hump Days, we saw the inflation report for June come in at 9.1%, the fastest pace since November 1981. On Thursday, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose slightly to 244,000 last week from 235,000 the prior week. The figure comes in slightly above at 2019 pre-pandemic weekly average of 218,000 when the U.S. labor market was strong.
Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust Corp was quoted saying this:
“The labor market is past its peak, but it’s still not far from the peak. We’re beginning to see a moderation, but not a crash in the demand for labor.”
We’re seeing other data suggesting that the U.S. labor market remains solid but is starting to see its moderation. Employers added 372,000 jobs in June, a lower increase compared to May and below the gains from each of the 3 months in Q1, but still robust. Additionally, the unemployment rate remained at a low 3.6% for the fourth consecutive month and the labor force shrunk by 353,000 people last month. Lastly, job openings fell to 11.3M in May marking the second straight month of decline, though still historically high.
This is all to be expected following the CPI report which saw consumer prices rise at the fastest pace in 40 years, likely solidifying the Federal Reserve to continue to raise rates aggressively.
Several major companies have decided to lay off employees or indicated they were going to become more cautious towards hiring. Google, Apple, Netflix and Twitter plan on slowing hiring/scaling back on staffing plans for the rest of the year.
However, economists are confident that finding a job remains easy, claiming that the time to find a job for the recently unemployed is lower now because of all the job openings out there.
So far, we have no cause to ring the emergency alarm but it does seem as though the labor market is past its peak. We’re expecting its gradual wind down until the Fed can reel in consumer prices.
Weekly News Roundup
Uber Settles One Lawsuit Only to be Served Another Suit Alleging Sexual Assault by Drivers (Yahoo/CNBC)
Uber will pay more than $2M and waive wait time fees for disabled passengers to settle allegations that the ride share company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Uber will pay $1.7M to more than 1,000 riders who complained and $500k to others harmed by the practice. Uber is now facing a new lawsuit from a firm representing women who claim they were assaulted by drivers who use their app. The lawsuit has ~550 clients with claims against Uber and another 150 more are being investigated.
HY: Unfortunate state of the world, women can’t even get into an Uber alone without second guessing it… sad.
Twitter Says Elon Musk’s Opposition to Expedited Trial Is a Tactical Delay (WSJ)
Musk’s lawyers asked for a trial date on or after Feb. 13, 2023 in a move that counters Twitter’s case for an expedited trial scheduled for September of this year. Twitter added that getting the trial underway ASAP is imperative because the dispute is harming the business and Musk is amplifying the problem by using the platform to disparage the company.
RH: Is Elon playing 4D chess here?
HY: I’m totally over this story in the news. It’s just going to be like this for the next few months now.
U.S. Jobless Claims Reach Highest Level This Year (WSJ)
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose slightly from the week prior, the Labor Department said. Data suggests the U.S. labor market remains solid, but is starting to soften slightly. Several major companies such as Google, Netflix and Twitter have indicated they are going to become more cautious toward hiring