Confidence about the economy is in short supply despite a relatively solid job market

WASHINGTON (AP) — The official numbers show that the U.S. job market has proved sturdy in the face of one shock after another – President Donald Trump’s trade wars, persistent inflation, high interest rates, and a conflict with Iran that has sent gasoline prices rocketing higher, squeezing family budgets. When the Labor Department releases hiring and unemployment numbers for September, they’re likely to be solid once again: Forecasters surveyed by the data firm FactSet expect that employers – businesses, government agencies and nonprofits – added 90,000 jobs last month and that unemployment remained low at 4.1%.

Layoffs are rare, and most workers enjoy job security. But ordinary Americans are not feeling it. consumer confidence dropped this month to the lowest level in more than a decade, according to an index published by the Conference Board.

One reason: More than 28% of the respondents told the business think tank that they expect fewer jobs to be available in six months, double the 14% who expect more. The online jobs site Glassdoor reports that its employee confidence index, based on how workers view prospects for their own companies, dropped last month to the lowest level in records going back to the beginning of 2016, a period that includes a global pandemic. It was the index’s third record low this year.

“Employee confidence has been continuously grinding downwards over the last year as workers grow increasingly anxious about everything from layoffs to AI,’’ said Glassdoor chief economist Daniel Zhao. The public discontent with the economy comes barely a month before voters go to the polls for midterm elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republicans maintain full control over Congress. A Thursday poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S.

adults approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low. The public’s misgivings about jobs partly reflect an odd feature of the current labor market: Employers aren’t laying off many workers, but they aren’t hiring many either.

A Labor Department measure of gross hiring – before subtracting those who quit or lose their jobs – has been stuck in a rut for more than two years. So economists describe a “ low-hire, low-fire ’’ job market in which those who have jobs are most…