And I don’t think they’ll like it. In 2024, I kept saying that too many either forgot or never experienced what it was like to be an employee in an economy where five percent unemployment was considered too low. Now they’re (re)learning that lesson the hard way, unfortunately.

In a roundup of the recent election, Paul Krugman describes the Conference Board’s “labor market differential” which describes the difference between people who say jobs are plentiful and those who say they’re hard to get. Here are the data:

People haven’t felt this pessimistic about getting a job since 2016 (though there are still more people who say jobs are plentiful versus “hard to get”).

This could be a significant force in politics, though much of it would manifest itself in weird ways. Employees–which is to say voters–would be much more disgruntled about the economy. The perception that jobs are harder to find means one has to put up with more crap from your employer, and I think there could be electoral consequences as a result.

Either way, it’s not a great job market right now, which is not good news for Trump (even if the political press corps still thinks he’s a Very Special Boy).