Marketplace When will the Fed shift focus to the job market?
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Mar 18, 2026 
Claire Brown, New York Times climate and insurance reporter, explains how credit history can shape homeowners' costs. Carla Javier, Marketplace reporter, breaks down huge wholesale vegetable price swings. Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace labor analyst, explores when the Fed might shift focus from inflation to a sluggish job market. Short, timely conversations on inflation, food prices, and labor trends.
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Fed Torn Between Inflation And Jobs
- The Fed is balancing price stability and maximum employment amid conflicting risks.
- Powell said inflation risks are to the upside while labor-market risks are to the downside, forcing a tradeoff in policy decisions.
Inflation Control Comes Before Job Support
- The Fed will prioritize taming inflation before acting to stimulate the job market.
- RSM's Joe Brusuelas argued that without price stability employers won't feel confident to ramp up hiring, so inflation control comes first.
Job Growth Has Stabilized Much Lower
- The U.S. job market has weakened and largely stalled compared with last year.
- Over the past 12 months the economy added 156,000 jobs versus more than a million the previous year, and posted soft wage growth for new hires (~2.1%).