Marketplace More labor market blues
19 snips
Nov 11, 2025 
Kristen Schwab, a Marketplace reporter specializing in labor markets, joins Dina Shanker, a food reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek. They delve into the struggles small businesses face in hiring, exacerbated by tight labor quality and competition from larger firms. Meanwhile, they explore the booming condiment market, discussing how viral trends drive consumer behavior. With real wage growth stagnating and hiring expectations wavering, they paint a vivid picture of the current economic climate, peppered with insights and data.
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Small Business Hiring Strain
- Small business owners report notable labor-market strain despite overall optimism in the NFIB index.
- 32% can't fill jobs and 27% cite labor quality as their top problem, the highest since 2021.
Why Small Firms Struggle To Compete
- Smaller firms feel hiring pain more acutely because they compete with larger employers' pay and benefits.
- Weaker hiring and higher layoff risk make existing workers less likely to job-shop, reducing applicant flow.
Private Data Signals Cooling
- Multiple private datasets (ADP, Indeed, regional Fed data) point to labor-market weakening.
- Signals include slower job growth, rising unemployment, stagnant wages, and worsening expectations.