U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July

Hey, Erin! Did the U.S. really lose 23,000 jobs in July? Yeah, that was not expected. And they revised the previous two months down by more than 100,000. So, not stellar news. Well, Well, at least the unemployment rate ticked down from 4.2 to 4.1. That's gotta be good news, right? Right. So typically, it would be, but this month the unemployment rate went down because fewer people are actually looking. The unemployment rate doesn't capture everybody who doesn't have a job. It captures everybody who is actively looking. And the numbers are showing that that number just went down. Oh, I did see that wages are growing by 3.2%. I mean, that's amazing. Right? What? Hey, positive wage growth is always a good thing. But But inflation is actually at 3.5% right now. So that means—inflation is rising faster than wages. So that means that if you don't get it's higher than the rate of then you're getting a... unraise. Yeah, basically. Well, then what's your advice for people looking for jobs right now? You have to go where the demand is. Right now, people who are getting the good jobs are pivoting, upskilling, and networking. The skills the job market are demanding are rapidly changing. And so if you can figure out what skills are most in demand and gain those skills, you can get hired a lot faster. You got this.