Via SouthBayResearch.com,
The following is making the rounds, and it is technically true but factually false.
Start with this 1st part:
Government hiring does NOT drive February hiring
School 'hiring' drives February hiring.
And since most schools are public, it shows up in Gov't payrolls.
But even calling it 'hiring' is a misnomer.
This is back-to-school restoration of temporarily released school staff.
These are the folks who drive buses, work in the cafeterias, maintain the grounds, provide after-school activities, etc etc.
Otherwise Gov't hiring is actually almost non-existent in February, except for Post Office hiring.
So technically it is true – Gov'ts drive February hiring because they include education payrolls – but linking them to DOGE misrepresents the situation.
(Note: cuts to Dept of Education will have an impact, but they haven't really started yet.)
Now for the 2nd part:
So…you are guessing?
DOGE has zero impact on the back-to-school hiring.
Nada.
DOGE does have a near-term impact on Private Sector hiring.
For example, eliminating $1B in contracts to vendors for the purpose of promoting DEI in classrooms: that's a job killer. But these began AFTER the NFP survey kicked in.
And that timing factor comes into play with all of the cost-cutting by Trump.
"Uncertainty over federal funding" was non-existent on January 20th when Trump was inaugurated. Nobody took his bluster seriously. It became a reality as February progressed, but that also means the impact would fall outside of the February payroll survey period.
I don't disagree with the assessment that a big wave is coming.
I do disagree that it starts in February.