Tom Barkin

And so that means there's less pressure to pass costs on.

And then on the unemployment side, obviously labor supply is dropping at the same time as labor demand.

And that's keeping the unemployment rate relatively balanced.

And that's the combination of immigration and redistribution.

revocation of temporary status.

Also, our generation, Mike, which is leaving the workforce.

I mean, you're seeing a million three more people over 65 out of the workforce every year.

And so you've got less labor demand, low hiring, low firing environment, but you've also got less labor supply.

And that probably means that the unemployment rate increases are going to be relatively limited.

Well, I've been describing it as a fog that's created uncertainty.

And I definitely think in the context of the last couple of months, the fog has started to lift.

Businesses don't know exactly what the tariff will be on their sector necessarily, but they kind of have a sense of the range.

People aren't really following the news every day.

the same way they were back in April.

And a lot of businesses I talk to say, look, I've just got to do something.

I've got to take action.

I can't be on the sidelines forever.

So I am seeing people more in the game.

Now, if you're in a particular sector where you see a new announcement, of course that's going to set you back.

And so what I say about businesses in general is not true of businesses in every sector.