Growing Black Unemployment, Taxing California Billionaires, New Supreme Court Cases

Ayesha Rascoe (0:02)

This week's job numbers show that the labor market is holding steady, with a twist.

Scott Simon (0:08)

Who you are in the job market matters more than usual. Lack of employment spiked significantly.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:13)

I'm Ayesha Rascoe.

Scott Simon (0:15)

And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:20)

The sector that added the most jobs last month? Health care.

Scott Simon (0:25)

Californians consider a one-time tax for billionaires. It could help close some gaping holes in the state budget, or it could drive the ultra wealthy away for good.

Ayesha Rascoe (0:34)

And the Supreme Court justices are back on the bench this fall. On the docket is a ban of AR-15 assault rifles and oil and gas companies getting sued for climate change.

Scott Simon (0:45)

So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend.

Ayesha Rascoe (1:00)

The US economy added fewer new jobs than expected in September, and unemployment ticked up a bit, now at 4.2 percent. That's from the Labor Department jobs report.

Scott Simon (1:12)

Betsy Stevenson joins us now, she's a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and was a member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors. Thanks very much for being with us.

Betsy Stevenson (1:24)

It's great talking with you this morning.

Scott Simon (1:26)

29,000 new jobs. What do you see in these latest numbers?

Betsy Stevenson (1:29)

Well, what I see is a continuation of a low-fire, low-hire labor market. And that is a labor market where if you have a job, you're doing okay, you can hang on to it, but it's hard to get a new job.

And that hurts not only the people who need to enter the labor market or have lost their job, but it actually also hurts the people who are employed because most wage gains, big wage gains, come from changing jobs. So that was the other thing we saw in this report, is that on average, people's wages are not keeping up with inflation.

Scott Simon (2:09)

In recent months, a majority of the new jobs have gone to women, though in this report, it was more equal than previous months. What's going on?

Betsy Stevenson (2:18)

Well, you and I have talked about this before, so I looked at this longer trend, because you're right, this month, it was more even. 14,000 of the 29,000 jobs went to women. But if we actually look since July, 100% of the jobs have gone to women, and we now see that women hold 50.1% of the jobs. And this is almost completely explained by the fact that almost all the hiring in our labor market is being driven by health care.

That is an area where we still need people, and women are the majority of the workers in that industry. That is the engine of job growth, which is very confusing for some people, because AI is the engine of GDP growth, but it has not been an engine for job growth.

Scott Simon (3:11)

Unemployment among black workers rose sharply, full percentage point. That is now more than double the rate for white workers.

What do you see in that?

Betsy Stevenson (3:19)

What I see is a series of patterns that reflect a labor market that we're not in a recession, but I wouldn't call this a strong labor market. And what happens in a weak labor market is all sorts of workers who are used to being able to churn and change jobs frequently find themselves getting left out. Now, when we break down the unemployment rate to groups like black workers, we do see a lot more volatility. So when you see a big jump in a month, I always want to have a little bit of caution. That's why you're hearing some caution in my voice. But I think it's symbolic of a labor market that matches the K-shaped economy.

People who are doing well are still doing well.

And any kind of worker who's struggling to get their foot in the door, keep their foot in the door, get a promotion to the next thing, those are the people who are really struggling right now. And I think that's why we're seeing this real increasing anger over the labor market, because there's no openings and breaks for people to get. And obviously, there's still job openings, but what we've seen is a decline in the availability of opportunities, which has led fewer people to quit jobs. If you're afraid to quit your job, Scott, because you think you'll never find another one, then you can't create another opening for someone else.