Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, September 4, 2026
Despite official data suggesting a stable labor market, an economist highlighted anecdotal evidence from a civil engineer in Jackson Hole whose friends are unemployed, questioning the overall stability. The discussion pointed to potential disruptions from AI, particularly impacting entry-level jobs and young graduates, suggesting that while aggregate data may show balance, micro-level experiences differ.
“The chairman saying in Jackson Hole that the labor market is stable. I was sitting there in the little bar off behind the grizzly bear, Claudia, you know the bar, at a table. A young kid from Kansas comes up, civil engineer, and he describes how all his friends are unemployed. Do we really have a stable job economy?”
“So in the way that Morse is looking at the economy, certainly you can point to stability or balance, you know, jobs or creation is keeping up with a slowing labor force. But with that perspective you got at the bar in Jackson Hole, like that is a really important one. And it is one that we are going to be grappling with more and more. And in particular, we can see studies. The Dallas Fed had a great piece out this week looking at drilling down into entry-level jobs in Texas, looking at young graduates.”
“The disruption in the labor market, you know, that's where it's starting, but that's not where this ends.”