The US labor market ground to a halt in 2025. The risk in 2026 is that it 'cracks.'

It was a tough year to be looking for work — and the job market is not expected to get much better.

Americans looking for work in 2025 have faced a challenging environment. And 2026 may not be much better.

The November jobs report out Tuesday showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 4.6% — relatively low by historical standards but the highest since mid-2021. Meanwhile, recent data from the University of Michigan showed that as of November, the majority of consumers expected unemployment to rise in the year ahead.$MON $SOL