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There’s an important jobs report coming Friday. Here’s what to expect

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A pedestrian walks by a ‘hiring now’ sign in front of a U-Haul store on December 03, 2024 in San Rafael, California. 

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

After a month in which hiring was essentially muted due to storms and strikes, the jobs report due out Friday could provide a clearer picture of where the labor market is headed.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to report Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET that nonfarm payrolls increased by 214,000 in November, a significant step up from the meager 12,000 gain in October. That month’s reading was the worst for job gains since December 2020.

One of the things that will make the report so pivotal is it will be the last comprehensive look the Federal Reserve will get before its next policy meeting on Dec. 17-18. Markets are betting heavily that the Fed will approve another quarter percentage point interest rate cut, but that could change depending on how the jobs count plays out.

“Well, it should be a pretty healthy number, because it should bounce back from [October] when we had [Hurricane] Milton and the [Boeing strike] holding down jobs,” said Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

In fact, the October number could get pushed higher after BLS surveyors go back and recheck the month’s data. Revisions to the payrolls reports sometimes have been massive in the post-Covid period.

That could add to a messy couple of months with economic data and make the Fed’s job more challenging.

“I would expect it to be over 200,000, and the risk would probably be to the upside if we get a real rebound,” Jones said. “But I’m not sure that this jobs report will tell us much, either, because of all the weather effects up and down. Is it really going to give us a clear view of the future, or is it just going to be more muddy data to deal with?”

Important for the Fed

Getting a clear picture for the Fed is essential now as policymakers look to recalibrate policy at a time when annual inflation rates are elevated but easing and focus has increased on the labor market.

Aside from the October report, the jobs picture has been showing a mostly slower trend since around April, with payroll gains averaging about 128,000 new jobs a month as the unemployment rate has drifted up to 4.1%. Fed policymakers want to take their benchmark short-term borrowing rate down a more neutral level as they balance their focus between inflation and employment.

“This is absolutely going to be noisy, because a storm and strike disruption affects two months’ worth of data, the data for the month in which people aren’t working and the next month when they return to work,” said BNY economist Vincent Reinhart, a former Fed official who served 24 years at the central bank.

“The way the Fed sees it is that the slowing in nonfarm payrolls over the course of 2024 was basically settling to trend, trend being something a little above 100,000 jobs created a month, and that was not worrisome,” he added. “It was actually welcome, because, you know, trend is sustainable.”

Indeed, the most recent signals point to a job market leveling off but not worsening.

State of the labor market

Initial weekly unemployment insurance claims have held in a fairly steady range around 220,000, though continuing claims earlier in November had hit their highest level in about three years. Together, the numbers indicate that companies are not laying off workers en masse but also aren’t rehiring those who do lose their jobs.

A Fed economic report Wednesday — its “Beige Book” summary of current conditions — described hiring as “subdued as worker turnover remained low and few firms reported increasing their headcount.” The report said layoffs are “low” but employers indicated caution about the future pace of hiring, with more enthusiasm about entry-level workers and skilled trades.

Job openings increased in October while the hiring rate fell and those leaving their jobs voluntarily increased, according to BLS data this week.

The Fed will have to weigh all of those factors, plus worries about rising inflation, when it makes its rate decision and lays out its outlook for the future.

If the labor market can remain steady, then it shouldn’t put additional pressure on inflation, Reinhart said. “So the strategy is, try to get demand at trend, because if growth and demand are at trend, then you should preserve the current state of the labor market, and the labor market is roughly in balance,” he added.

In addition to the headline payrolls gain, the unemployment rate is expected to nudge up to 4.2% as the labor force sees re-entrants from October. Also, average hourly earnings are expected to rise 0.3% on the month and 3.9% from a year ago, both down slightly from the previous month.

Economics

Checks and Balance newsletter: The Democrats’ future is up for grabs

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Checks and Balance newsletter: The Democrats’ future is up for grabs

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Economics

Trump’s approval rating on economy at lowest of presidential career

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President Donald Trump is registering the worst economic approval numbers of his presidential career amid broad discontent over his handling of tariffs, inflation and government spending, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.

The survey found that the boost in economic optimism that accompanied Trump’s reelection has disappeared, with more Americans now believing the economy will get worse than at any time since 2023 and with a sharp turn toward pessimism about the stock market.

The survey of 1,000 Americans across the country showed 44% approving of Trump’s handling of the presidency and 51% disapproving, slightly better than CNBC’s final reading when the president left office in 2020. On the economy, however, the survey showed Trump with 43% approval and 55% disapproval, the first time in any CNBC poll that he has been net negative on the economy while president.

Trump’s Republican base remains solidly behind him, but Democrats, at -90 net economic approval, are 30 points more negative than their average during his first term, and independents are 23 points more negative. Blue collar workers, who were key to the president’s election victory, remain positive on the Trump’s handling of the economy, but their disapproval numbers have shot up by 14 points compared to their average for his first term.

“Donald Trump was reelected specifically to improve the economy, and so far, people are not liking what they’re seeing,” said Jay Campbell, partner with Hart Associates, the Democratic pollster on the survey.

The poll was conducted April 9 through 13th and has a margin of error of +/-3.1%.

The results show that Trump has so far been able to convince only his base that his economic policies will be good for the country over time: 49% of the public believe the economy will get worse over the next year, the most pessimistic overall result since 2023. That figure includes 76% of Republicans who see the economy improving. But 83% of Democrats and 54% of independents see the economy getting worse. Among those believing the president’s policies will have a positive impact, 27% say it will take a year or longer. However, 40% of those who are negative about the president’s policies say they are hurting the economy now.

“We’re in a turbulent, kind of maelstrom of change when it comes to how people feel about what’s going to happen next,” said Micah Roberts, managing partner with Public Opinion Strategies, the Republican pollsters for the survey. “The data… suggests more than ever that it’s the negative partisan reaction that’s driving and sustaining discontent and trepidation about what comes next.”

While partisanship is the most significant part of the president’s negative showing, he loses some support among Republicans in key areas like tariffs and inflation, and has seen a notable deterioration among independents.

Tariffs look to be a substantial part of the overall public’s discontent. Americans disapprove of across-the-board tariffs by a 49 to 35 margin, and majorities believe they are bad for American workers, inflation and the overall economy. Democrats give tariffs a thumbs down by an 83-point margin and independents by 26 points. Republicans approve of the tariffs by a 59-point spread — 20 points below their 79% net approval of the president.

Large majorities of Americans see Canada, Mexico, the EU and Japan as more of an economic opportunity for the United States rather than an economic threat. In fact, all are viewed more favorably than when CNBC asked the question during Trump’s first term. The data suggest the public, including majorities of Republicans, do not embrace the antipathy the president has expressed towards those trading partners. On China, however, the public sees it as a threat by a 44% to 35% margin, substantially worse than when CNBC last asked the question in 2019.

The president’s worst numbers come on his handling of inflation, which the public disapproves of by a 37 to 60% margin, including strong net negatives from Democrats and independents. But at 58%, it’s the lowest net positive approval from Republicans for any of the issues asked about the president. 57% of the public believe we will soon be, or are currently in, a recession, up from just 40% in March 2024. The figure includes 12% who think the recession has already begun.

The public also disapproves of the president’s handling of federal government spending by a 45% to 51% and foreign policy by a 42% to 53% margin.

Trump’s best numbers come on immigration, where his handling of the Southern border is approved by a 53% to 41% margin, and deportation of illegal immigrants is approved 52% to 45%. The president achieved a slight majority of support from independents on deportations and 22% support from Democrats on the Southern border. While still modest, it’s the best-performing issue for Trump among Democrats.

Meanwhile, Americans have turned more negative on the stock market than they’ve been in two years. Some 53% say it’s a bad time to invest, with just 38% saying it’s a good time. The numbers represent a sharp turnaround from the stock market optimism that greeted the president’s election. In fact, the December survey represented the sharpest swing toward market optimism in the survey’s 17-year history and the April survey is the sharpest turn towards pessimism.

The president’s troubles with his approval rating do not appear to be translating for now into significant potential gains for Democrats. Asked about congressional preference, 48% of the public support Democratic control and 46% support Republican control, barely changed from CNBC’s March 2022 survey.

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Economics

‘He should bring them down’

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U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Win McNamee | Annabelle Gordon | Reuters

President Donald Trump on Friday lobbed his latest criticism at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as the White House’s discontent for the economic policy leader hits a fever pitch.

During a Friday afternoon question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump pointed to examples of prices going down.

“If we had a Fed Chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down, too,” Trump said. “He should bring them down.”

Trump has long argued that the Fed, which sets monetary policy in the U.S., should cut down interest rates. His latest comments come as the White House has ratcheted up its attacks on Powell in recent days.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Friday that Trump and his team are assessing whether they can remove the Fed chair. Powell has said previously that he cannot be fired under law and intends to serve through the end of his term as chair in May 2026.

“The president and his team will continue to study that matter,” Hassett said at the White House after a reporter questioned if firing Powell “is an option in a way that it wasn’t before,” according to Reuters.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.” His post included the nickname of “Too Late” for Powell, a continuation of Trump’s habit of giving satirical titles to political rivals.

His use of the word “termination” raised questions around if Trump was referring to Powell’s potential removal from his post ahead of schedule. Hassett said on Friday the administration will look at if there’s “new legal analysis” that would allow for Powell’s firing.

Powell appeared to irk Trump after saying Wednesday that the president’s contentious tariff plan could drive up inflation in the near-term and create challenges for the central bank in managing goals of high employment rates and price stability. Powell said Trump’s levies — many of which are currently on pause — are “likely to move us further away from our goals.”

“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” Powell said in prepared remarks before the Economic Club of Chicago. “If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close.”

Powell also said that the Fed was “well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

The Federal Open Market Committee has its borrowing rate currently targeted in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%, where it has sat since December. Fed funds futures are pricing in a more than 90% likelihood that the central bank holds rates steady again at its policy meeting next month, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

As Trump’s team has scaled up criticisms, some Democrats have gone on defense. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., warned on Thursday that a president firing the Fed chief would be dire for U.S. financial markets.

“Understand this: If Chairman Powell can be fired by the president of the United States, it will crash markets in the United States,” Warren said on CNBC.

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