How the weak jobs report could make inflation harder to manage | CNN Business

David Goldman and Matt Egan report on the economy for CNN. This is their text conversation about this month’s job report. David Goldman: Hey, Matt! The jobs report on Friday came in…less than good, let’s say. Are we back in this “meh-conomy,” where we have stagnant job growth and uncomfortably high inflation with no easy solution? Those are two difficult jobs to tackle at once, right? “Jobs” was not supposed to be a pun, but let’s go with it. Matt Egan: Hey, Dave! I wish we were doing this under happier circumstances. Because, yes, it feels like we just got an economic plot twist no one wanted. The thinking before Friday: Solid but not spectacular job market. The thinking now: Soft job market AND elevated inflation. Goldman: Right. I feel like not so long ago, we were talking about, “The economy is strong, but everyone hates it.” Now, maybe sentiment and reality are somewhat converging? Maybe? Egan: Exactly. The surveys (many of which are dismissed by investors as overly political) may have sniffed out this labor market weakness before the hard data. Conference Board’s labor market split (jobs plentiful vs jobs hard to get) = weakest since 2021. But before w