How U.S. workers can understand, strategize around economic data

Yahoo Finance contributor Mandi Woodruff-Santos highlights how workers should be paying attention to economic data when paying off debt, making moves in the labor market, and leveraging sign-on benefits with a new job.

Video Transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: A slew of economic information-- interest rate hikes, jobs reports, CPI data-- can be a lot for people to absorb. To help us make sense of what all this means for workers, Yahoo Finance contributor and "Brown Ambition" podcast co-host Mandi Woodruff-Santos joining us now. Mandi, nice to see you. So what should employees be doing to prepare for the worst?

MANDI WOODRUFF-SANTOS: Honestly, I think the first thing is to just take a deep breath. Things are a little shaky right now. And they're highly confusing. There are several signs that the job market is still really hot. I mean, we see quit rates still inching their way actually up a little bit. Wage growth, although down slightly, is still fairly steady, especially relative to where we were before the pandemic. So for workers, what can this mean for you?

Also, we see, like, tech layoffs happening. My first tip is really for you to think about your own financial house, and what can you do to create some sense of financial security, because even though things are good now, I'm a realist, and it's very likely that businesses could continue to make big pivots throughout this year if a recession continues to loom over us. And by pivots, of course, that means potential layoffs. So definitely be saving and paying down your debt. But I wouldn't let that stop you from making some big career moves if that's what you want to do in 2023.

SEANA SMITH: Well, Mandi, for those out there who are looking to make a move, I think some of them are struggling with what they need to pay attention to, what they can kind of just ignore at this point. What are the most important things that they need to pay attention to at this point?

MANDI WOODRUFF-SANTOS: You've got to look at your personal professional economy. So what sector are you in? And look for data and research that supports what are job openings look like, what are hiring rates looking like for your particular sector. Maybe if you're in tech, you know that things are going to be highly competitive because even though tech companies are still-- some of them are still hiring, of course, you have lots of competition with tens of thousands of workers hitting the job market at the same time due to layoffs.