Daniel Zhao
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danielzhao.bsky.social
Daniel Zhao
@danielzhao.bsky.social
Glassdoor Chief Economist
glassdoor.com/research
I post charts about the job market and workplace trends

Formerly known as @DanielBZhao on Twitter

Maryland born & raised, now in NYC
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
More color from JPMAM Kelly: Of the -35k Oct payrolls drop, there was likely a 120k decline in the federal workforce.
November 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Forgot until just now that this is one of those years when the CPS reference week for November comes early. Is this week. www.bls.gov/cps/definiti...
Concepts and Definitions (CPS)
Concepts and Definitions (CPS)
www.bls.gov
November 7, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
It's #jobsday! Except it isn't, because of the government shutdown. Which means that we're left sifting through alternative data sources to try to figure out what's going on in the labor market.
So, what are those sources telling us? A 🧵:
November 7, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Bank of America Institute data from October points to ongoing job market slowing with estimated payroll growing slightly slower than ADP and unemployment payments growing faster than continuing claims.

institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/...
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Employee sentiment tumbled in October, according to the latest Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. 45.7% of employees reported a positive business outlook for their employers in October, down from 47.8% in September.

www.glassdoor.com/blog/glassdo...
November 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Data dogs step aside, Chicago Fed's Goolsbee's new metaphor on inflation risks: "The last time you looked out the window, there was a mountain lion sitting in your front yard. So before you let Fluffy out to go run around, let's at least get one more look."
November 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
New US jobs data?
Goldman Sachs economists see US govt shutdown ending in mid-Nov with BLS releasing the September jobs report within a few days, possibly never releasing the October jobs report and then putting out the November jobs report on time or within a week delay
November 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
But looking across industries, this spare capacity is not particularly concentrated in industries gaining new tariff protection. In 2025 so far, capacity utilization has not risen more in industries receiving more new import protection. (2/3) www.federalreserve.gov/econres/note... #FEDSNote
October 31, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
To put this in context, employee count is down vs 4 years ago, while Amazon sales are up 31% or nearly $41 billion.
Amazon headcount grew in Q3 2025 to 1,578,000, up 2% QoQ & YoY and now at the highest level since Q1 2022.

The QoQ increase of 32,000 employees is ironically almost the same as their plan to cut 30,000 corporate employees, reported earlier this week: www.reuters.com/business/wor...
October 31, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Yet the new hesitancy about cutting in December seems more a response to a potential rebound in jobs rather than worries about inflation. Some on the committee think growth is improving, which could actually boost hiring.

Powell: "They're noticing stronger economic activity."
October 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Meta employee count up 3% QoQ, 8% YoY in Q3 2025 to 78,450 from 75,945 in Q2

investor.atmeta.com/investor-new...
October 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
First up @nicktimiraos.bsky.social Q: are you uncomfortable with market pricing of a move at the next meeting?

A: We're not on a preset course and markets need to take that on board. We had strong views and strongly differing views today.
October 29, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
The US obesity rate has declined from its 2022 peak as the use of weight-loss drugs has more than doubled in two years, according to @gallup.com: news.gallup.com/poll/696599/...
October 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
"The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022."
October 27, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
The Fed lacks gold-standard data that inform its monetary policy decisions, due to the shutdown.
They had a secret deal with ADP for granular private data.
But a Fed governor revealed the collaboration in a speech, so ADP got mad and cut the Fed off.
A laugh-before-crying story from me:
Fed Making Key Economic Decisions Without Key Economic Data - The American Prospect
The Fed considers information from a variety of sources in setting monetary policy, everything from anecdotal reports to original data produced by its regional Reserve Banks. But the loss of public, a...
prospect.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Everyone who cares about attacks on govt data should be following @hansilowang.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/hans...
On Oct. 10, the Census Bureau issued a notice of a mass layoff of 101 employees of its contact center in Tucson, Ariz., which is now on pause because of court order in a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees
www.azjobconnection.gov/search/warn_...
U.S Census Bureau WARN Notice - AZ Job Connection
www.azjobconnection.gov
October 18, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Vanguard administrative data shows a sharp slowdown in employment growth starting in spring 2024 with employment growth for 21–25 year olds decelerating from +3.5% in April 2024 down to +2.1% as of September 2025

corporate.vanguard.com/content/corp...
October 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Tariff concerns are still front and center in today's October Beige Book, though not as prominent as in the last few months post-Liberation Day.

This illustrative quote from the Kansas City Fed highlights pricing concerns have moved from a "boil to a simmer".
October 15, 2025 at 6:52 PM
awful nice of the Dallas Fed to believe even in the worst case, we'd survive ~10 years post-singularity in the human-AI war
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, you need to chill
October 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Key stat from @amandamull.bsky.social article "The richest 10% of US households—those making roughly $250,000 or more—now account for almost half the country’s consumer purchases, according to Moody’s Analytics"
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers
The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.
www.bloomberg.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
Unemployment is surging for Black workers — and federal government layoffs will only make it worse. Important story from @lydiadepillis.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/b... #EconSky
October 12, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
New Substack post: the Nobel Prize goes to an economic historian and two economists of growth trying to answer the question, where do new technologies come from?

someunpleasant.substack.com/p/growing-th...
Growing the Field
What is the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics about?
someunpleasant.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Daniel Zhao
The Trump admin has started firing federal workers 10 days into the shutdown, according OMB Director Russ Vought — who called the firings "substantial."

At least nine agencies appear to be affected.
Vought sounds layoff siren: 'The RIFs have begun'
At least nine agencies appear to be affected.
www.politico.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:26 PM