Fed's Barkin (2027 voter) says the drop in the unemployment rate is welcome

• Hard to find firms outside of Healthcare or Ai who are hiring.


• Job growth is modest, very much in line with low-hiring and low-firing continuing


• Narrowness of hiring is "uncomfortable"


• Does not hear cost of interest being cited as a major problem for businesses.


• In theory, lower labour supply and lower job growth is a reasonable balance.


• It is not clear whether the job market will break towards more hiring or more firing.


• Believes there is actual change in productivity


• Demand growth still seems quite healthy.


• Coming data will be important, it is still not trivial that the Fed is still trying to catch up with gaps from the shutdown.


• Real solution to housing is supply, more homes need to be built.


• Jobs data can now be taken at face value.


• On inflation, it will take more time to make up for missing reports from last fall.

09 Jan 2026 - 18:15- Fixed IncomeData- Source: Market Source