The Growing Labor Market Gap

Today’s labor market data came in line with expectations. Unemployment held steady at 4.2%.

Economists yawned. Markets – no doubt relieved to have something else to talk about besides the Trump/Musk feud – pushed higher.

But we can’t help but notice a growing gap in the data:

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The government’s employment data looks much stronger than data provided by ADP – the private sector payroll giant. Of course, ADP is basing its data on actual customers, and not making all sorts of seasonal or one-off adjustments.

There may be a case for those adjustments. But with a growing gap that causes the government’s data to look rosier than the private sector – it’s a warning sign.

And with many government job cuts still not showing up in the data – you can’t file unemployment while you’re still on severance – the trend is likely to worsen before it gets better.

Our colleague Andrew Zatlin, the #1 payroll analyst on Bloomberg, has made similar observations – that the trend will start to get worse in the third quarter, and that government revisions will likely start to bring today’s gap down as well.

Until then, mind the gap.

~ Addison

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Today’s labor market data came in line with expectations. Unemployment held steady at 4.2%.

Economists yawned. Markets – no doubt relieved to have something else to talk about besides the Trump/Musk feud – pushed higher.

But we can’t help but notice a growing gap in the data:

Turn Your Images On

There may be a case for those adjustments. But with a growing gap that causes the government’s data to look rosier than the private sector – it’s a warning sign.

And with many government job cuts still not showing up in the data – you can’t file unemployment while you’re still on severance – the trend is likely to worsen before it gets better.

Until then, mind the gap.

~ Addison

Get paid $1,500 to write a two-page story

GET ALL THE DETAILS HERE.

P.S. There are plenty of moving parts in the economy right now, and we explored several of those trends with Frank Holmes yesterday on Grey Swan Live!

As always, if you’re not yet a full-fledged member, you’re missing out on unique, timely, and ultimately critical knowledge about today’s markets.

As always, your reader feedback is welcome: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com (We read all emails. Thanks in advance for your contribution.)

Bitcoin isn’t a trade and trying to time it with chart patterns generally does not work.

I’ve never really felt like technical analysis carried much real predictive edge in general and when it comes to BTC, I’ve seen too many failed “death crosses” to change my opinion.

The one that just triggered in mid-November as bitcoin flirted with $90,000 is just the latest.

What really matters? It’s a monetary regime change – if market participants are trading anything it’s getting rid of a currency (“it’s the denominator, stupid”) for a store of value – and we’re seeing it in spades with Bitcoin and gold.

White-collar hiring is, in fact, slowing. Engel’s Pause is taking hold of the jobs picture.

In the meantime, everyday Americans are rediscovering an ancient truth: there is wisdom in wearing steel-toed boots.

Jobs that struggle to attract bodies in boom times are now seeing stampedes of applicants.

– Georgia’s Department of Corrections: applications up 40%.

– The U.S. military: reached 2025 recruiting goals early.

– Waste management staffing: applications up 50%.

For now, economists call this “labor market tightness.” Anyone who has ever scrubbed a grease trap knows it by another name: fear.

Bitcoin has historically weathered 30%+ corrections while still in a bull market.

Global liquidity fears and lower odds of a Fed rate cut in December are driving bitcoin and other cryptos lower at present.

As Andrew Zatlin described on Thursday’s Live! we can expect a series of stimulus efforts next year, ahead of the midterms, driving new liquidity. The $2,000 “tariff rebate” checks President Trump has been touting are but one example.

When higher liquidity hits the market – in whatever form it takes – today’s bitcoin buyers will be waiting.

Make like the whales, and use market selloffs and stimulus to your advantage.

The market seems to know something about private credit that we don’t. And in a big enough liquidity event for private credit, investors will have to sell off more liquid assets if they want capital.

That’s the danger private credit poses today, exactly at a time when rules are being eased to make it easier for retail investors like us to buy into this asset class.

I’m in the camp that this smells like a way to keep the party going by providing another source of liquidity – the passive investment flows from your regular 401(k) contributions. The smell takes on a sour note as this sector starts to falter.

Perhaps today’s selloff is simply a reaction to declining interest rates, the growth of private credit, and a few inevitable deals that have gone sour recently.