Two big dates on the economic calendar this week will give crucial clues about how the job market, and the consumer market, are doing.<\/p>\n
First, the January jobs report \u2014 which usually comes out on the first Friday of the month, but didn\u2019t because of last week\u2019s government shutdown<\/a> \u2014 has been delayed to release on Wednesday. Then, the January consumer price index, also delayed, will come out on Friday.<\/p>\n Economists and markets are expecting decent but unremarkable job creation<\/a>, alongside unemployment holding steady at 4.4%. On the inflation front, the expectation is for some moderation, with prices increasing slightly less than in December 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n The economy has been adding an anemic 50,000 jobs per month on average over the last year, just a third of the rate in 2024. And more of the same is expected for January,<\/a> said Boston College economist Brian Bethune.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole employment market has been sort of put on hold \u2014 limited hiring going on by large businesses, actually reductions in employment levels in the small business world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The January jobs report will also come with something called \u201cannual benchmark revisions,\u201d which Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the consulting firm RSM, said are expected to reduce the number of jobs added to the economy last year.<\/p>\n \u201cMeaning, we\u2019re probably going to see a net decline in jobs for the entire year of 2025,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n