# US labor market macro thread

Informational only - not investment advice.

Employment, unemployment, payroll, claims, openings, quits, and wage indicators from BLS and DOL public data.

As of: 2026-06-06
Related topic page: /skills/us-labor-market.html

This page is a data-driven assembly of existing grepcent indicators, SIC crosswalks, SEC company financials, and sanitized SEC MD&A text. The mapped sectors are grepcent descriptive editorial mappings, not forecasts, recommendations, or investment advice. Company inclusion is mechanical - largest by revenue in the mapped SIC sectors - and is not a recommendation, endorsement, or an assessment of any company's exposure to this theme.

Sector mapping is coarse (SIC level) and does not imply a company's business is driven by this theme; keyword matches are literal and may be incidental - read the linked filing for context.

## Macro Side

| Indicator | Latest reading | Units | As of | Source |
| --- | ---: | --- | --- | --- |
| [UNRATE](/indicator/UNRATE/) - Unemployment Rate | 4.3 | Percent | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE |
| [CES0500000003](/indicator/CES0500000003/) - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private | 37.53 | Dollars per Hour | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003 |
| [U6RATE](/indicator/U6RATE/) - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons | 8.1 | Percent | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/U6RATE |
| [PAYEMS](/indicator/PAYEMS/) - All Employees, Total Nonfarm | 159001 | Thousands of Persons | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS |
| [CIVPART](/indicator/CIVPART/) - Labor Force Participation Rate | 61.8 | Percent | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART |
| [EMRATIO](/indicator/EMRATIO/) - Employment-Population Ratio | 59.2 | Percent | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/EMRATIO |
| [UNEMPLOY](/indicator/UNEMPLOY/) - Unemployed | 7307 | Thousands of Persons | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNEMPLOY |
| [CE16OV](/indicator/CE16OV/) - Employment Level | 162771 | Thousands of Persons | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CE16OV |
| [ICSA](/indicator/ICSA/) - Initial Claims | 229000 | Number | 2026-06-06 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ICSA |
| [JTSJOL](/indicator/JTSJOL/) - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm | 7618 | Thousands | 2026-04-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSJOL |
| [JTSQUR](/indicator/JTSQUR/) - Quits: Total Nonfarm | 1.9 | Thousands | 2026-04-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSQUR |
| [AWHAETP](/indicator/AWHAETP/) - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private | 34.3 | Hours | 2026-05-01 | https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AWHAETP |

## Mapped SIC Sectors

Mapped from the existing topic crosswalk, refined where needed to SIC major-group scope for company selection.

- [Retail Trade](/division/G/): SIC division G
- [Manufacturing](/division/D/): SIC division D
- [Services](/division/I/): SIC division I

## Largest Companies in Mapped Sectors (by revenue)

Companies are selected from the mapped SIC sectors and sorted by latest reported annual revenue (from SEC companyfacts). Missing metrics are left blank. MD&A signals are keyword matches against the sanitized latest 10-K MD&A text. Keywords scanned: labor costs, wage inflation, employee wages, staffing shortages, workforce reductions.

| Company | Revenue | FY | Net margin | Operating margin | Revenue growth | MD&A mentions | Verbatim MD&A excerpt |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- | --- |
| [AMZN](/company/AMZN/) - AMAZON COM INC | 716,924,000,000 | 2025 | 10.83% | 11.16% | 12.38% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [WMT](/company/WMT/) - Walmart Inc. | 713,163,000,000 | 2026 | 3.07% | 4.18% | 4.73% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [AAPL](/company/AAPL/) - Apple Inc. | 416,161,000,000 | 2025 | 26.92% | 31.97% | 6.43% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [GOOGL](/company/GOOGL/) - Alphabet Inc. | 402,836,000,000 | 2025 | 32.81% | 32.03% | 15.09% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [CVS](/company/CVS/) - CVS HEALTH Corp | 402,067,000,000 | 2025 | 0.44% | 1.16% | 7.85% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [XOM](/company/XOM/) - EXXON MOBIL CORP | 332,238,000,000 | 2025 | 8.68% |  | -4.96% | workforce reductions | "Strategic changes implemented over the past several years enabled the Corporation to capture $15.1 billion of structural cost savings(1) versus 2019, including $3 billion of savings during 2025, through increased operational efficiencies, workforce reductions, divestment-related reductions, and other cost-saving measures." (verbatim sentence from XOM latest 10-K MD&A, filed 2026-02-18; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/34088/000003408826000045/xom-20251231.htm) |
| [MSFT](/company/MSFT/) - MICROSOFT CORP | 281,724,000,000 | 2025 | 36.15% | 45.62% | 14.93% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [COST](/company/COST/) - COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW | 275,235,000,000 | 2025 | 2.94% | 3.77% | 8.17% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [NVDA](/company/NVDA/) - NVIDIA CORP | 215,938,000,000 | 2026 | 55.60% | 60.38% | 65.47% | employee wages | "While difficult to isolate and quantify, these macroeconomic factors impact our supply chain and manufacturing costs, employee wages, costs for capital equipment, the value of our investments, revenue and competitive position." (verbatim sentence from NVDA latest 10-K MD&A, filed 2026-02-25; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1045810/000104581026000021/nvda-20260125.htm) |
| [META](/company/META/) - Meta Platforms, Inc. | 200,966,000,000 | 2025 | 30.08% | 41.44% | 22.17% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [CVX](/company/CVX/) - CHEVRON CORP | 189,031,000,000 | 2025 | 6.51% |  | -6.79% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [F](/company/F/) - FORD MOTOR CO | 187,267,000,000 | 2025 | -4.36% | -4.90% | 1.23% | labor costs, employee wages | "We continue to see lingering impacts on our business due to inflation, including ongoing geopolitical volatility, driving up labor costs, freight premiums, and other operating costs above historical rates." (verbatim sentence from F latest 10-K MD&A, filed 2026-02-11; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/37996/000003799626000015/f-20251231.htm) |
| [GM](/company/GM/) - General Motors Co | 185,019,000,000 | 2025 | 1.46% | 1.57% | -1.29% | labor costs | "The remaining portion includes labor costs, depreciation and amortization, engineering, freight, and product warranty and recall campaigns." (verbatim sentence from GM latest 10-K MD&A, filed 2026-01-27; https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1467858/000146785826000013/gm-20251231.htm) |
| [HD](/company/HD/) - HOME DEPOT, INC. | 164,683,000,000 | 2026 | 8.60% | 12.68% | 3.24% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |
| [KR](/company/KR/) - KROGER CO | 147,642,000,000 | 2026 | 0.69% | 1.28% | 0.35% |  | No keyword match found in emitted latest 10-K MD&A. |