The job market is getting worse. So why are stocks booming?

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 24, 2025, in New York City. | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images It’s getting harder to find a job and easier to lose one.  Employers are hiring workers at a steadily lower rate while laying them off at a rising one, according to data from the Chicago Federal Reserve. The unemployment rate has been ticking up, and job growth has been slowing.  This said, our picture of today’s labor market is blurry. With the government shut down since October 1, our best economic data is out of date. But this week brought larg