FEATURED POST
January 27, 2026
Thinking small
It was an eventful week at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland. And behind the global headlines, I witnessed a part of the economy that often goes overlooked at these big events: small business
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January 20, 2026
AI and the great job unbundling
Greetings from the annual World Economic Forum. I’m in Davos, Switzerland, where business leaders and policymakers are sharing ideas about improving global cooperation and prosperity.
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January 13, 2026
The job market might be tighter than you think
Here’s what the data said about the labor market in 2025: Hiring slowed. Layoffs, as proxied by initial jobless claims, remained near historic lows. And workers were in no big rush to quit their jobs. Taken together, these numbers might suggest a softening labor market, with fewer jobs and less competition for workers. But hiring and employment churn are only part of the equation. Wages are another. And pay growth was robust in 2025.
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December 23, 2025
The NER Pulse
For the four weeks ending Dec. 6, 2025, private employers added an average of 11,500 jobs a week, slowing from an upwardly revised 17,500 the prior week. While job growth slowed, hiring remained in positive territory for a third week. These numbers are preliminary and could change as new data is added.
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December 16, 2025
Money isn’t everything. We found another powerful currency for incentivizing workers.
One classic conundrum of economics is the principal-agent problem. Principals want a task done but lack the know-how, time, or energy to do it themselves. Agents are capable of doing the work, in theory, but they might not do it exactly the way the principal wants.
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December 9, 2025
Small employers have something to tell us
For the four weeks ending Nov. 22, 2025, private employers added an average of 4,750 jobs a week. This week’s positive number hints at an upswing in the labor market after four straight weeks of negative pulse estimates. These numbers are preliminary and could change as new data is added.
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November 25, 2025
A silver twist on the gig economy
The federal government’s delayed September employment report, released last week, showed that the economy added 119,000 jobs that month, better than economists had predicted.
But for self-employed workers, the news wasn’t as good.
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November 18, 2025
Job growth is sluggish, but new hires are on the upswing. How?
Hiring has slowed from earlier in the year, so one would think that new hires—which we define as workers added to an employer payroll in the last three months—would be a shrinking share of the workforce. Instead, they’re on the upswing. What gives?
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