| The November jobs report, delayed by the government shutdown in the fall, was released this morning. Stacey Vanek Smith, co-host of the Everybody's Business podcast, writes about the data—and the feeling that the US labor market is just drifting. Plus: Our annual list of global stocks to watch in 2026, and why sports leagues should be wary of predictions markets. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. When Brett Vergara got a mysterious calendar invite at work a couple of months ago, he says he was hit with a sinking feeling. "It was a video call for 4 p.m. that day," he recalls. "I was like, 'Oh, that's probably not good.'" Vergara had worked for three years as a project manager for a large tech company. His team was focused on artificial intelligence and how the company could use and integrate the evolving technology. Vergara felt pretty solid about his team and his job. But on the call, his worst fears were confirmed. "They were like, 'Your team has been affected. … You have until 5 p.m. to wrap up everything.'" After that his email went dark, and he started hearing from other members of his team who'd received the same news. "Pretty much everybody was blindsided," he says. "It was brutal." For many workers, 2025 was a rough year: Almost 2 million people were laid off. The US jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics out this morning revealed that the unemployment rate rose yet again in November, to 4.6%, the highest it's been in four years. Still, the unemployment rate and layoffs are near historic lows. The job market hasn't been in crisis as much as it's been stuck. Hiring is near the lowest it's been in years, and the number of people quitting their job has fallen off a cliff.  A job fair hosted by Cook County in June to support federal workers in Chicago. Photographer: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg "We've drifted into what Dr. Seuss called 'The Waiting Place,'" says Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Described in Oh, the Places You'll Go, that's where people are waiting for "the mail to come, or the rain to go / or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow / or waiting around for a Yes or No / or waiting for their hair to grow. / Everyone is just waiting." "Unemployment is edging up but not surging," Dube says. "Wage growth is positive, but lackluster." So everyone waits, he says. "Workers wait for job offers that come with a real pay bump. Firms wait to see what the next quarter brings." Uncertainty about tariffs, the effect of AI on productivity and whether or not people will continue to spend money at the same pace next year has a lot of companies in wait-and-see mode. But waiting isn't a good place for a job market to be. In an economy as large, wealthy and dynamic as the US's, this kind of stagnation is highly unusual and insidious: It means companies aren't growing, innovating or evolving as quickly as they could. It also means workers have fewer options. When hiring rates are this low, it's difficult for workers to ask for raises or promotions or to take risks. Vergara says many of his friends in tech aren't thriving. "A lot of them feel stuck or trapped," he says. "That's a hard feeling too. If they have a job they hate, they feel like they can't leave." Sarah Kim, who's been searching for work for two years, says the job market can be a truly "disheartening place." Kim works in marketing and got her first job in the field in 2018; then she was poached away by another company in the hot job market of 2021. When her contract ended in late 2023, she found herself in the Waiting Place—and says things felt vastly different. Kim has cerebral palsy and says she noticed companies seemed much more reluctant to hire a worker with special needs, who might need flexibility to work from home. Kim estimates she's applied for around 1,000 jobs. She's had dozens of interviews, but she says in that stage, things become much harder for her, because verbal communication can sometimes be difficult. "That's where I feel like I'm at a disadvantage," she says. Kim says she tries to stay positive, but it's not easy. The share of unemployed workers who've been looking for a job for more than six months is now almost 25%. Today's data don't show a drastic change in the market or reveal how it might break in 2026. The unemployment number rose, but the number of jobs added in November came in higher than expected, at 64,000. Dube says policymakers and business leaders who are looking for a decisive moment, when data will reveal whether the job market is gaining real strength or in a crisis, could find themselves waiting for quite a while. "The risk isn't sudden collapse, but being banished to a land of joyless doldrums for what feels like an eternity." Vergara says he's experienced those doldrums but also some true bright spots. He was able to volunteer on the mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani and do charitable work with immigrant communities in New York. He also landed a temporary position filling in for a worker on maternity leave. "It's short-term so not the most ideal," he says. "But it does at least buy me some more time." Related: Here Are the Key Takeaways From the Monthly US Jobs Report | 
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