Unemployment In Context
August 11, 2025 By Sage Advisory
Given July’s recent payrolls miss and outsized negative revisions, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1% — stirring anxiety about whether the labor market is beginning to buckle after a period of extraordinary resilience.
But context matters.
The chart below plots quarterly data from 1948, comparing the unemployment rate to year-over-year real GDP growth. What stands out is that negative GDP prints have historically clustered when unemployment is above 5%. At the current level of 4.2%, we’re still comfortably below that threshold — and still in the territory that has typically coincided with economic expansion.
Source: Sage, BEA, BLS
The current policy stance is restrictive, but it’s not becoming more so. Instead, markets have shifted their focus to how quickly the Fed will normalize. Currently, the pendulum of expectations has swung hard toward accommodation. Cuts in September, November, and December are nearly fully priced in. The easing path looks fully valued, leaving little room for any sign of stabilization in the labor market or upside inflation surprises. While yields remain asymmetrically biased lower — especially in a downturn or hard-landing scenario — they could push the pendulum back and reprice the front end higher.
Still, history suggests we’re not in dangerous territory yet. With unemployment below 5%, the backdrop leans toward expansion, not recession. But when the market is leaning this far in one direction, it takes little for the momentum to shift. With cuts fully priced in and yields already reflecting a dovish tilt, the near-term risk/reward around adding duration here warrants caution.
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