Revelio Labs

As the BLS gets more politicized, official labor statistics will become more suspect. Alternative labor data has been more precise and real-time than the BLS for years and now it's more important than ever.

Salary and remote work opportunities are the dominant drivers of employee sentiment, significantly outweighing other workplace factors. Compensation alone accounts for 14% of workplace rating variation, while remote work flexibility explains another 6%, far exceeding the impact of any other factors. This data suggests that return-to-office mandates may be counterproductive, as employees prioritize pay and flexibility above traditional workplace perks. Read the full analysis on employee sentiment to understand which factors genuinely influence worker satisfaction.

Today's Jobs Report shows that the economy is much weaker than expected. Just two days after the Federal Reserve opted to hold interest rates steady, the BLS's July report will cast serious doubts on just how resilient the labor market and the broader economy actually are. The US economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, and major revisions reduced May and June gains from a fairly robust +291,000 to a meager +33,000. At Revelio Labs we have been talking about the drop off in labor demand in recent months, as we continue to see significant declines in active jobs postings in our dataset. While hiring and attrition have dropped off in tandem, we are now really seeing a decline in overall net job creation across the economy. Weaker demand has led to less hiring, especially for new entrants. While job postings have declined overall, they are especially weak for entry level positions. And our data shows that 4 out of 5 of the top industries for new graduates have pulled back this year. As such, it's less surprising that the BLS reported a spike in unemployment among new entrants - rising +275,000 in July, to 985,000, the highest levels since January 2015.

Workers become more grateful for their jobs when unemployment rises and alternatives disappear. A 10% increase in the unemployment rate correlates with a 4% improvement in how employees rate their workplaces, defying conventional expectations. While counterintuitive, this finding reveals that job security becomes the dominant factor shaping workplace satisfaction for employees when uncertainty in the labor market increases.

When layoffs happen, everyone feels it, not just those who lose their jobs. Layoffs create a lingering sense of uncertainty that undermines workplace culture, causing organizational instability and making them far more costly than most companies realize. The ripple effects devastate morale among remaining employees, who can lose confidence in leadership and question their own job security. Even well-intentioned workforce reductions signal unpredictability and erode the trust that drives employee sentiment.

Employee sentiment has plummeted 6% since January 2021, with experienced workers feeling the deepest dissatisfaction about their jobs. Unlike typical post-crisis recoveries, workplace sentiment never bounced back after the pandemic's initial shock and has continued its steady decline well into 2025. This represents a fundamental shift in worker expectations and trust rather than temporary burnout, signaling that companies must rethink their approach to employee engagement and retention. Read the full analysis on employee sentiment to understand what's driving this structural change in the American workforce. 

Free snacks won’t fix low salaries. And employees are starting to notice. Since 2021, employee sentiment has fallen over 6 percent. The biggest factor behind the drop is salary. Flexible work and AI offer small boosts. But they can’t make up for underpaying your people. The impact isn’t the same for everyone. Entry level employees care most about higher pay. Experienced employees care more about job security and layoffs. Layoffs hurt more than attrition. Once a layoff is announced, morale drops instantly. And trust in leadership rarely recovers. Attrition is also a clear signal. A 10 percent rise in attrition drops sentiment by 1 percent. Salary still moves the needle most. It explains 14 percent of the variation in sentiment scores. Remote flexibility is next at just 6 percent. Other changes like AI adoption barely register. Even rising unemployment lifts sentiment. A 10 percent rise increases workplace ratings by 4 percent. Want to improve morale? Start with what people value most. Would you stay at your company if pay didn’t change this year?

What’s actually happening in the labor market when it comes to AI? We sat down with Revelio Labs senior economist Loujaina Abdelwahed, PhD and it’s not what headlines suggest. 🎧 Spotify: buff.ly/3LVjhxz 📺 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ev7VaqnM — $PAYC $ADP $FVRR $UPWK

Since 2021, sentiment among experienced employees has declined 58% more than entry-level workers. Experienced employees are more sensitive to job stability than compensation now as they watch waves of layoffs in the news. Meanwhile, entry-level employees who are new to the workforce tend to be more motivated by higher salaries. This divergence signals a shift in what drives workplace sentiment among different employee segments, with enormous implications for retention strategies across experience levels. Read the article below to take a closer look at the fall in sentiment and what employees actually value most.

Promotion decisions can function as strategic retention tools that influence company-wide perceptions of opportunity, not just individual rewards for high performers. Our data reveals that when employees observe career advancement happening around them, it creates positive spillover effects that improve retention rates even among workers not directly receiving promotions. This means every promotion sends a signal about organizational commitment to development, making newer employees more likely to stay as they witness tangible evidence of growth opportunities.