U.S. consumer confidence declined to the "lowest point since 2014" in January, below "pandemic depths," according to The Conference Board.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined by 9.7 points in January to 84.5, down from 94.2 in December. That's the lowest index reading since May of 2014.
Expectations for business and labor market conditions six months from now fell further into negative territory."
Consumers' view of current economic and labor market conditions:
The Board's Present Situation Index (consumers' assessment of current economic and labor market conditions) declined 9.9 points to 113.7.
Less than one quarter of consumers (23.9%) described jobs as "plentiful," down from 27.5% in December.
20.8% of consumers described jobs as "hard to get,” up from 19.1% a month prior.
Just 17.9% of consumers described business conditions as "good," down from 19.8% in December.
The portion of consumers who described conditions as "bad" increased slightly, from 17.6% in December to 17.8% in January.
Consumers' short-term outlook:
The Expectations Index (consumers' "short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions") declined by 9.5 points to 65.1. The 65.1 reading is "well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead."
Just 15.6% of consumers said they "expected business conditions to improve, down from 18.7% in December."
The percentage of consumers who expect "business conditions to worsen" increased from 21.3% in December to 22.9% in January.
Only 13.9% of consumers said they "expected more jobs to be available, down from 17.4%," while "28.5% anticipated fewer jobs, up from 26.0%."
Just 15.7% of consumers “expected their incomes to increase, down from 18.8% in December.”
Confidence collapsed in January, as consumer concerns about both the present situation and expectations for the future deepened.”
Read more via The Conference Board
It is now taking unemployed Americans longer to find new roles "than at any point in the past four years," according to the latest data.
On average, unemployed Americans are spending "more than 11 weeks" searching for a job, the "longest since 2021."
More than a quarter (26%) of the country's 7.5 million unemployed persons who are "actively searching for work" have been doing so for over six months.
There are 1.9 million Americans currently considered "long-term unemployed," meaning "they have been looking for jobs for more than 27 weeks."
The number of long-term unemployed Americans “grew by 26 per cent in 2025.”
Read more via Financial Times
While health care sector hiring has been fueling labor market growth in recent months, experts say it is now “losing steam.”
Employment in the health care sector "drove most of the month-by-month job growth last year, increasing by an average of 34,000 jobs per month."
While health care hiring surpassed other sectors, the level of hiring in 2025 was still "less than health care's monthly average increase of 56,000 roles in 2024."
Cuts to federal health programs, automation resulting from AI advancements and "rising costs" are all contributing to a decline in the number of hires health systems are able to make.
Neale Mahoney, a Stanford University economics professor, told Axios that "health care hiring has essentially returned to a pre-pandemic pattern of slower growth after a post-COVID surge driven by returning patients and hospitals replacing burned-out workers."
Experts say health systems are “doing more targeted hiring.”
Read more via Axios
Manufacturing jobs have been declining for months, despite the Trump administration's efforts to reignite a manufacturing boom.
U.S. manufacturing jobs declined in December, marking a continuation of "an eight-month skid that began last spring."
Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were designed to prompt a U.S. manufacturing boom.
While the tariffs have resulted in "around $30 billion a month" in revenue, the "blue-collar jobs boom hasn't materialized."
2025 should have been a good year for manufacturing employment, and that didn’t happen."
Manufacturing lost 8,000 jobs in December and "factory employment has dropped more than 70,000 since April."
According to economists, the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have "hampered" manufacturing, protecting some U.S. manufacturers while increasing “costs for many others.”
It is hard to find businesses outside of the AI ecosystem or healthcare that are talking about hiring."
Read more via Reuters, The Washington Post
A number of prominent employers have cut -- or are planning to soon cut -- jobs. Amazon, UPS and Citi are among the employers that have announced or are reportedly planning job cuts. According to WARN Tracker, over 100 U.S. employers "have filed legally mandated WARN notices about job cuts to come in 2026."
Amazon: Amazon announced plans to lay off 16,000 corporate employees as part of an effort to "trim bureaucracy and free up money for plans to spend heavily on artificial intelligence."
Washington Post: The newspaper is "planning to dramatically reduce the size of its staff in the coming weeks and is reportedly considering making the steepest cutbacks to its foreign desk and sports department."
UPS: UPS announced "about 30,000 job cuts this year." UPS is ending its Amazon partnership, and "plans to slash total operational hours by approximately 25 million by reducing its dependence on Amazon." CFO Brian Dykes said during a call with analysts Tuesday.
Citi: Citi is planning to "cut more jobs this year as part of its plan to reduce its workforce by 10%, or 20,000 employees." The cuts are the result of a plan Citi announced in 2024, which "could save the bank as much as $2.5 billion."
Pinterest: Pinterest is planning to lay off "less than 15% of its workforce and cut back on office space as the company embraces artificial intelligence."
Nike: Nike announced plans to "eliminate 775 jobs, mostly at distribution centers in Tennessee and Mississippi."
Tyson: Layoffs impacting thousands of workers at Tyson plants in Nebraska and Texas took effect in January. According to news reports, the layoffs impacted “nearly 5,000 employees.”
Read more via Business Insider, The New York Times, The Hill, New York Post, CNBC, Oregon Live, 5 News
China: In the fourth quarter of 2025, China experienced a "distinctive surge in demand for talent" related to "advanced technology and manufacturing," according to recent reports by "major recruitment platforms." In China's urban centers, "AI, new-generation information technology, as well as new energy are generating significant demands for new employment." (Caixing Global, South China Morning Post)
Germany: Bus and rail services that commuters rely on are expected to "grind to a halt across the country" on Monday, February 2. Verdi, Germany's primary public services trade union, has "called for an almost nationwide strike in a dispute with municipal and state employers over work conditions." (Reuters)
Japan: Almost half of "highly skilled foreign workers" are earning "less than the average starting salary for new university graduates," according to Nikkei. 45% of "foreign workers who enter Japan under a programme for specialised or technical fields" are bringing home "less than JPY 240,000 (USD 1,540) a month." (SIA)
Switzerland: Asylum requests as well as "overall immigration" to Switzerland fell in 2025, according to the country's immigration authority. The number of permanent foreign residents "still grew by about 75,000 people." 70% of EU nationals to moved to Switzerland cited employment as the "chief pull-factor." (VisaHQ)
United Kingdom: Job openings "continued to fall in December," while the "pace of increases in advertised salaries slowed." According to Adzuna, job openings declined from "745,448 in November to 716,791" in December, the "sixth consecutive month" that openings have fallen. (Reuters)
