Intro

On today’s episode, we make you smarter by answering your pressing questions about this economy: Will cuts to the federal workforce make any difference to the unemployment rate? Also, have we all been totally oblivious to a private sector recession? (Spoiler: No!) We’ll explain. Plus, listeners sound off on smile-worthy moments from their week!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “How Will Shrinking the Federal Workforce Impact the Labor Market?” from Wells Fargo
• “How DOGE cuts might show up in the data” by Axios
• “Unemployment is still low, but are private sector layoffs accelerating?” from Marketplace
• “Many laid-off government workers aren’t eligible for unemployment” from Marketplace
• “US Treasury’s Bessent vows to re-privatize an economy that is ‘brittle underneath’” by Reuters
• “ADP® National Employment Report” from ADP Research
• “Employment by industry, monthly changes” from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• “Governments at all levels are hiring, and that’s boosting the job market” by Marketplace
• “The Federal Reserve’s favorite recession indicator is flashing a danger sign again” from CNBC

Join us tomorrow for “Economics on Tap.” The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern.