The Labor Market Podcast with Fexingo: Jobs Reports, Unemployment, and Wage Growth

Lucas and Luna explore how wage growth is increasingly tied to geography, not just industry or education. Using the latest data from the Employment Cost Index and median weekly earnings, they discuss why workers in smaller metros and rural areas are seeing faster wage gains than those in coastal superstar cities. The conversation drills into the 'geographic arbitrage' trend, where remote work and...

Lucas and Luna dig into a striking pattern hidden in this month's earnings data: hourly workers are seeing faster wage growth than their salaried counterparts. They explore what's driving the gap — from minimum wage laws to labor shortages in retail and hospitality — and what it means for the broader economy. With average hourly earnings at $37.40 and median weekly earnings up 3.9% year-over-year,...

In this episode of The Labor Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore a structural shift that often goes unnoticed: the steady rise of temporary help services as a share of total employment. While April's unemployment rate held flat at 4.3 percent and payrolls grew by 115,000, temp hiring surged at double the pace of overall job growth. Lucas breaks down the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statisti...

Episode 4 of The Labor Market Podcast with Fexingo digs into a question many listeners have asked: is wage growth actually keeping up with inflation? Lucas and Luna break down the latest data — average hourly earnings up 2.5% year-over-year, but median weekly earnings rising faster for certain groups. They explore the divergence between service-sector and goods-producing wages, and why the Employm...

The U.S. labor market is sending a weird signal: job openings are dropping steadily — down to 6.87 million in March, the lowest level since early 2021 — yet layoffs remain historically low and weekly jobless claims just fell again to 209,000. Lucas and Luna dig into what's driving this 'quiet cooling' and what it means for workers, employers, and the Fed's next move. They look at JOLTS data versus...

Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising narrative shift: the AI economy may be a boon for blue-collar workers, not just knowledge workers. With unemployment at 4.3% and job openings tightening, they examine where demand for skilled trades and service roles is outpacing white-collar hiring — and what the latest wage and JOLTS data tells us about who's actually benefiting from the recovery. Plus: how t...

On the debut episode of The Labor Market Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a big week in economic policy: Kevin Warsh is set to be sworn in as Federal Reserve chair on Friday, just as new data shows the job market is cooling faster than expected. Initial jobless claims jumped to 211,000 last week, up from 199,000 — the highest level in over a year. Meanwhile, JOLTS job openings fell to 6.866 million...