The same old well being checks on the U.S. economic system have been disabled throughout the federal government shutdown, leaving analysts to comb over non-public knowledge for clues. What they’re seeing, not less than in accordance with Moody’s, isn’t nice.
However Moody’s is warning that personal reporting paints a much less rosy image, describing function additions to the roles market as “paltry.” Everybody from Wall Avenue to the Federal Reserve is aware of America’s labor market is weakening—including simply 22,000 jobs in accordance with the BLS’s newest launch for August—however are uncertain by how a lot.
Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi wrote in a word over the weekend that knowledge from Revelio Labs, which scrapes data from skilled networking websites like LinkedIn to estimate jobs development, reveals that employment elevated by some 60,000 roles in September. This, he added, was “almost entirely in the education and healthcare sector.”
The roles aren’t simply unique to sure sectors, he added, however areas: “Also of note, the job growth last month was almost exclusively in California, New York, and Massachusetts”—three of the highest 5 states when it comes to GDP per capita.
He continued: “The bulk of the job gains in the ADP numbers were also in healthcare, and only very large companies, with over 500 employees, added to payrolls. Smaller companies are getting hit hardest by the tariffs and restrictive immigration policies.”
“Averaging the Revelio and ADP employment estimates for September suggests that there was essentially no job growth during the month,” the economist concluded, additionally referencing the Convention Board’s current reporting that customers are discovering it more and more tough to seek out roles. This knowledge confirmed confidence hasn’t been so low for the reason that finish of the pandemic, and added “there’s no better predictor of changes in unemployment, which thus likely rose again in September.”
Information from jobs website Glassdoor is a equally blended image. Chief economist Daniel Zhao shared on Friday that whereas confidence was marginally up final month it was nonetheless down in comparison with a yr in the past. So too is pay: Salaries declined barely in September, averaging $71,831 per yr on Glassdoor, down 0.4% from August ($72,128). On a year-over-year foundation, salaries grew 4.9% in September, a deceleration from 5.4% in August, and the slowest annual tempo of development since April 2025.
Zandi continued: “The bottom line is that not having the BLS jobs data is a serious problem for assessing the health of the economy and making good policy decisions. But the private sources of jobs data are admirably filling the information gap, at least for now. And this data shows that the job market is weak and getting weaker.”
Fed by a keyhole
Because the deadlock in Washington reveals no signal of easing nearly all of economists are actually anticipating the federal government shutdown to proceed previous the center of October—the subsequent assembly of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to determine the bottom charge.
With out the info being shared by authorities companies through the blackout, UBS’s Paul Donovan beforehand warned “private data is like viewing the economy through a keyhole —clear, but with a narrow field of vision. Official data is like opening the door. Private data relies on official data to model the bits of the economy outside its field of vision, and that modeling becomes less accurate in the absence of official data.”
Likewise, Pantheon Macroeconomics’ senior U.S. economist Oliver Allen warned shoppers in a word final week that whereas knowledge from the likes of ADP will maintain extra weight in a void of knowledge from the BLS, official knowledge could come again extra depressed than anticipated. Allen wrote: “We suspect the BLS estimates for growth in private payrolls in September—when eventually released—will be flattered by a big jump in leisure and hospitality jobs, the likely result of poor seasonal adjustment. Our forecast, therefore, remains for a 75K gain in private payrolls, although we see headline payrolls rising by just 50K, partly due to a further drop in federal government employment.”
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