Labor Market In Freefall As US Loses 50,000 Jobs In October, Mass Layoff Notices Soar

With the government very likely set to reopen tomorrow after the House votes on the minibus CR now that Senate Democrats folded, we will likely see a flurry of delayed economic data hitting the docket, first of which will likely be the September jobs report, potentially as soon as Friday. It will be stale and will show a labor market that is stronger than the current reality. From there, the October jobs report may not even be published and instead the BLS may just wait three weeks until the November jobs report due at the beginning of December. 

The question now is what will that report show. Well, we can tell you for a fact that it will be ugly, and here's why. 

First, last week's Challenger report already showed a dramatic spike in corporate layoffs, which surged by 153,000, nearly triple last year's total and the highest for that month since 2003. "This is the highest total for October in over 20 years, and the highest total for a single month in the fourth quarter since 2008. Like in 2003, a disruptive technology is changing the landscape", the Challenger press release said, laying the blame squarely in the feet of AI.