Alternate jobs report shows gain in September
While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics did not release its monthly jobs report on Friday because of the federal government shutdown, a few private companies are offering their own jobs numbers. Revelio Labs, a New York-based firm that analyzes publicly available employment data, said Thursday that the economy had added 60,000 jobs in September.
That contrasts significantly with a report by payroll processor ADP, which showed a loss of 32,000 private-sector jobs in September. Revelio said on its website that it believes the bureau would have reported a gain of about 38,000 positions.
Revelio’s estimate is its largest reported job gain since December 2024, when it said 63,000 jobs were created. By contrast, in May 2023, the company reported a gain of 223,000 jobs that illustrates how modest September’s increase was.
“Key things to watch into [the last three months of the year] include the breadth of hiring across industries and advertised pay momentum — if these continue to drift lower, the slowdown is likely to broaden,” Revelio said. “For now, the labor market looks steady but fragile.”
More Americans live paycheck to paycheck
A report Thursday by investment firm Goldman Sachs says Americans are having a harder time saving any money out of each week’s paycheck.
The company’s survey of working adults in three generations — X, Millennials and Z — found that 42% are living paycheck to paycheck. Almost three-quarters of them reported struggling to save money for retirement because of what Goldman calls a “financial vortex” of competing priorities.
“The cost of major life events is taking up a larger percentage of household income, a trend that affects workers at the lowest level of income as well as the highest,” Greg Wilson, head of retirement at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a statement.
Millennials were most likely to complain about the financial vortex, according to the report, closely followed by members of Gen Z. A slight majority of Gen X shared these concerns, and just under a third of Baby Boomers who have reached or are nearing retirement age.
Most members of Gen Z and millennials said they had experienced at least one major life event, such as buying a house, marriage, divorce or sending a child to college, in the past two years. Seventy percent said these events led them to either pause retirement savings, take out a retirement plan loan, or decide to retire later.
The problem with these decisions, according to the report, is that they result in less money available for retirement later on.
Some possible solutions families should consider include diversifying their investments or starting to save money for their children at an earlier age, the report said.