When it comes to the job market, love the one you're with

Justin Ho reports that productivity growth has been strong for most of the post-pandemic period. GDP rose at its fastest pace this year in the third quarter, indicating strong spending and production, while weak hiring has slowed growth in aggregate hours worked. Economists Courtney Schubert and Matthew Martin say that combination means workers are producing more without working longer. Nicole Servi says productivity can raise real incomes and living standards, but wages have not kept pace with inflation. Low layoffs and little job switching may also suppress productivity because workers are not moving to better-fitting jobs.

The September JOLTS report found job openings, hires and separations little changed, while quits rose slightly to 3.4 million. Angela Hanks says more quitting usually signals confidence in finding another job, but this one-month increase does not outweigh weak job-growth and wage-growth data. Heidi Shierholz says people with jobs should hang on because hiring is running at roughly 2012–13 levels, when the labor market was still recovering from the Great Recession. Healthcare remains crucial but is cooling: openings remain plentiful, while hires are down about 13% from last year.

Ryan McCaffrey, 41, had worked in sales and operations until CEO changes, a company sale and a reorganization eliminated his position. After his two-year-old son Leo was diagnosed with the rare neurological disorder Angelman syndrome, Ryan decided that one parent should stay home while his wife continued earning income. He finds caregiving rewarding but misses the daily grind and hopes to reenter the workforce next year or the year after. He is nervous about returning after time away, especially because he had been using AI heavily before leaving work and worries he is no longer fully integrated into that world.

Businesses delayed holiday inventory orders because tariffs made early storage expensive and geopolitical tensions made consumer demand harder to predict. When consumers continued showing up, companies placed orders all at once. The Logistics Managers Index found inventory growth, warehouse-space shortages and storage-price growth at their fastest rates since 2022. Adobe expects holiday spending of $275.1 billion, up 6.7% year over year, but Northeastern’s Nada Sanders warns that retailers are betting heavily on consumers and could be left with unsold excess inventory after the holidays.

The Dow fell 197 points, or four-tenths of a percent, to 51,786, while the Nasdaq gained 207 points, or just over eight-tenths of a percent, to 25,372. The S&P 500 added nearly four-tenths of a percent to 7,568. Apple beat expectations but warned that AI-data-center demand is raising memory-chip costs and squeezing margins; its shares fell 1.9%. Reddit rose 5.7% after criticizing Australia’s under-16 social-media plan and testing search ads. Keurig Dr Pepper gained 5.66%, Clorox rose 4.3%, and the 10-year Treasury yield reached 4.96%.

New York Times reporter Jenny Gross visited Royal Canin’s pet center in southern France, where 377 dogs and cats participate in daily 4 p.m. taste tests. Trays compare the company’s food with competitors’ products; dogs finish in about 15 minutes, while cats may take hours. Researchers weigh what animals eat and rate their excrement from one to ten, with diarrhea at the bottom. U.S. cat-food spending reached $17 billion, up 14% from two years earlier, as companies market supplements and specialized foods for aging pets, including dementia support and soft or easy-to-eat formulas.

MLB owners are expected to lock out players when the collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, with salary-cap rules central to the dispute. Players are team-controlled for their first six major-league years: former pitcher Mike Trombley earned roughly $240,000 in today’s dollars before becoming a free agent and signing a three-year Orioles contract worth about $15 million today. MLB proposes a payroll floor and cap, arguing that caps would raise pay for middle-class players while limiting superstars. The union objects because one player’s gains could come at another’s expense. David Ortiz’s rise from marginal prospect to $16 million-a-year Hall of Famer illustrates why players resist surrendering future upside.

Marketplace’s closing figure, from GasBuddy, was that the extra amount Americans have paid for gasoline and diesel since March 1 crossed $150 billion. The number was presented as a measure of the economic pressure contributing to consumer and voter dissatisfaction.