National household stability
Should I be worried?
Every Monday, we check jobs and prices where you live and tell you what changed.
Edition · November 2, 2026
Are more people losing jobs?49
U.S.Up 5 points in 4 weeks.
49 out of 100. 50 is normal. Higher means more people are losing jobs than usual. We work out this number from public data. As of Nov. 6, 2026
Explain this
Are more people losing jobs?
What it is: We count people who ask the state for money after losing a job. We also count big companies that report plans to cut back. We turn those counts into a score from 0 to 100. 50 is a normal week.
Why it moves: When companies cut jobs, more people ask for help. More companies say they plan to cut back. Then the score goes up. When fewer people lose jobs, it goes down.
Who controls it: No one sets this score. It rises and falls with the choices companies make about jobs. We work it out from the counts each week.
What it means for you: When it is high, more people than usual are losing jobs. More people are then looking for work, so a new job can be harder to find.
What goes into it
- New unemployment claims
- Cutbacks that big companies report
Sources and methods
Method version v1.2.
How sure we are: Medium.
Stability Now
We need more data for a full score. For now, we only track job losses.
Stability Ahead: We can't say yet where things are headed.
FearMetric works this out from the week's readings.
What the stress level will cover
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Ability to earn
Jobs, pay, hours and income continuity.
In it now
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Ability to cover essentials
Housing, power, food, debt payments and other bills you can't skip.
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Ability to absorb a setback
Savings, help you can count on, and what could knock you off track.
The numbers we watch each week
Home and essentials
Money and costs
Weekly answers in plain words are coming. For now, the numbers come first.
Find your state or city
What a personal answer adds
The U.S. reading is the same for everyone. Personal will look at your own work, home and bills. It is planned. It isn't open yet.
Why you can trust this
- Before we publish, we match each number to a fresh read of our own data.
- We say so when we can't measure something. How it works
- When we get something wrong, we add a dated correction to the page. Past weeks
Credits this week
- Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), food at home. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
- Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR filings (Form 8-K, Item 2.05).