In this month’s SalesGlobe Signals, Mark Donnolo cuts through the noise around rate cuts and headline jobs numbers to focus on the mechanics: supply, demand, and price of labor. The workforce is still expanding, but hiring demand has cooled. Layoffs are up and unemployment has ticked to 4.3%—still within the “full employment” range—while quit rates have settled. Labor costs have stabilized as the “war for talent” eases; wages and benefits are rising more slowly, even as productivity gains haven’t fully kept pace and inflation has eroded some of the wage growth of recent years. Sector stories diverge: leisure, hospitality, construction, and professional services continue to add headcount; manufacturing, finance, and parts of tech are tightening and leaning into automation and early AI adoption.

The takeaway: look at labor through a segmentation lens. Where demand is growing, help customers scale and offset rising people costs. Where hiring slows or cuts mount, lead with efficiency, productivity, and offers that supplement teams. Stabilizing labor costs create room to plan—use it to sharpen value propositions by segment and point sales toward the industries most likely to move.

• (00:00:00) - Sales Globe Signals: Higher Wages, Lower Revenue
• (00:01:13) - What Are the Market Signals?
• (00:03:05) - Signs That the Market Is Tightening
• (00:12:03) - Strategic opportunities for business and consumer markets
• (00:13:33) - 10 Questions about Your Customer Strategy for the Labor Market
• (00:15:07) - Sales Globe Signals: Future Growth