Is the Labor Market Gaining Strength?

0:00Chao Deng:Hey, it's Ryan Knudsen, host of The Journal podcast, our show about money, business and power. If you're looking for more deeply reported stories like we share every day, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash the journal, all lowercase, to subscribe now.

0:22Ken Thomas:April's job numbers blow past expectations, but we may not be out of the low-hire, low-fire labor market quite yet. Plus, what a decision by the Virginia Supreme Court means for Democrats' hopes of retaking the House in the midterms.

0:36Chao Deng:While this is certainly something that makes Democrats winning back control of the House much more difficult, I don't think this decision favors Republicans in the big picture.

0:50Ken Thomas:Why is that? We'll get into it. And in a big win for Intel, it will supply some chips for Apple devices, a deal that was pushed by the Trump administration. It's Friday, May 8th. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

1:20Ken Thomas:Let's start the show with some good news. U.S. employers added 115 ,000 jobs in April, blowing past analyst expectations for the second month in a row. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.3 percent. For more on what's behind the numbers, I'm joined now by WSJ economics reporter Chow Dang. Chow, a few months ago, economists were really worried about a hiring slowdown hurting the economy. Now this is the second really good month in a row of jobs numbers. Can we safely say that the labor market has strengthened?

1:51Chao Deng:I think that the strong number from today is a glimmer of hope that it will become easier for those without a job to find a job. That said, I think economists will probably want to see job gains for a few more months before they feel like conditions have really turned a page. It's two months of strong data that we've seen. So it's a little bit early to say that companies are shrugging off the Iran war or even completely shrugging off tariffs. But businesses are seeing conditions stabilizing and they have weathered tariffs. So some are hiring.

2:26Ken Thomas:Were there any surprises among the sectors where we saw this growth? I mean, a lot of the growth over the past few months has come from industries like healthcare. Did we see that again this month?

2:36Chao Deng:Yeah, very much so. Health care and social assistance jobs continue to power the overall job gains. We saw health care add 54 ,000 jobs in April. One surprise was the retail sector. We saw jobs there in super centers and warehouse clubs. Broadly speaking, jobs are coming through in more sectors than just health care.

3:00Ken Thomas:Of course, we would be remiss to not talk about the Fed. It's been caught between inflation concerns and worries about a deteriorating job market. Those two mandates always in tension. What does it mean for the Fed if the jobs market seems like it's getting stronger?

3:15Chao Deng:For a long time, the Federal Reserve has wondered whether it needs to keep cutting interest rates to support what appears to be a shaky labor market. Now that we've had this strong report, I think it puts more focus on the inflation data, which we'll see next week from the Labor Department for the month of April. We know inflation is drifting up instead of down because of tariffs and also because of the effects of the Iran war. And so I think we're going to see the Fed focusing increasingly on that.

3:44Ken Thomas:That was WSJ economics reporter Chow Dang. Thanks so much, Chow. Thanks. And let us know if you've got any questions on this labor market. You can send a voice memo to wnpod at wsj.com or leave us a message at 212-416-4328. Make sure to include your full name and location. We might just use your comments on the show.

4:09Ken Thomas:The Journal has learned that Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to make some chips for Apple devices. The deal is the result of talks between the two companies that have been going on for more than a year. Intel's stock soared 14%, closing at a record, while Apple gained 2%. The deal would be a big one for Apple, which has been under pressure to find enough advanced chips to meet consumer demand for its devices. And it's an even bigger one for Intel, which has struggled for years after falling behind chip-making rivals like TSMC and Samsung. Last summer, the Trump administration took a 10 % stake in Intel, and the government played a key role in bringing Apple to the table for this deal, the latest chapter in Intel's comeback story.

4:51Ken Thomas:Representatives for the two companies declined to comment. In other deals news, it's a first for a big Western automaker. Stellantis, the company behind Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat, and Ram, says it has a deal in Europe with a Chinese car company. Two Stellantis factories in Spain will produce electric vehicles with a Chinese company Leap Motor. WSJ Auto's reporter Stephen Wilmot says this will be a closely watched test of collaboration between Western automakers and their growing Chinese rivals.

5:19Chao Deng:The Chinese side wants access to the European market and local production assets are a key part of that. Stellantis, which has a big factory in Zaragoza in Spain, it's got a lot of spare space in this factory and it desperately needs to cut costs. So a good way of doing that is to essentially rent out the spare space to Leapmotor. So it's easy for them in the short term at least to turn this arrangement into a win. But longer term signal this sends is ambivalent at best. Stellantis says that Leapmotor sales aren't cannibalizing sales of Citroens and Renaults and Fiat and all the brands that sells in Europe.

5:59Chao Deng:Analysts are very worried for the long term health of the European market. The Chinese market is hyper competitive and it looks like the European market is going in that way. But this is kind of the first, you know, closely watched test case of how this kind of arrangement might shake out.

6:18Ken Thomas:The better than expected jobs report and strong gains in chip stocks powered stocks to their latest records. The Nasdaq finished up 1.7 percent for its 11th record close of 2026. The S &P also closed at a record high. Both indexes have gained for six straight weeks. The Dow, meanwhile, was nearly unchanged today. And heads up that we dropped a special bonus episode earlier today. In the latest What's News and Earnings, we look at how pharmaceutical companies are going for scale over price as demand for weight loss drugs soars. That's in your What's News feed now. Coming up, what we know about the latest Trump administration leader who's on the chopping block.

6:57Ken Thomas:More on that after the break.

7:04Ken Thomas:Hi, this is Alex Osula, host of the WSJ's What's News podcast. We bring you the biggest news of the day, from business and finance to global and political developments that move markets. If you're looking for more insights and tools to understand the latest headlines, consider becoming a subscriber to The Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash what's news to subscribe now.

7:34Ken Thomas:A decision from the Virginia Supreme Court today dealt a big win for Republicans looking to keep their narrow majority in the House of Representatives. State voters had recently approved a new map that was designed to make the split of districts 10 to 1 in favor of Democrats. Now, with the court's 4-3 decision, that map is out the window. The court found the legislative process that Democrats used to draw the map violated the state's constitution. That means the current Virginia map, which has a more even split between the Democratic and Republican districts, will remain in place. Journal-National political reporter Ken Thomas says it's still a tight race for control of the House.

8:10Chao Deng:This is a setback for Democrats, but I don't think there's an expectation that this decision favors Republicans in the big picture in terms of who will control the House after the November midterm elections. There are 30 to 35 seats around the country that are considered competitive, and Republicans are in defense on a lot of those seats.

8:35Ken Thomas:Democrats' loss in Virginia follows a Supreme Court decision limiting the use of race in congressional maps that has touched off a new round of redistricting in the South.

8:44Chao Deng:We saw Tennessee's governor sign a new plan this week that will eliminate a seat that's been held around the Memphis area by Democrats. There are other efforts afoot in South Carolina and Alabama. We could certainly see Republicans change the map to benefit their abilities of winning more seats in the fall elections.

9:10Ken Thomas:In Washington, we're exclusively reporting that President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty McCary. That plan isn't yet final and could change. McCary's tenure has been tumultuous. Earlier this week, we reported that he was under pressure from President Trump to more quickly approve flavored vapes, which the FDA then did. There's also been a lot of turnover in the FDA's leadership ranks. McCary didn't respond to a request for comment. On Iran, U.S. forces struck two empty Iranian-flagged oil tankers that were trying to go around the American naval blockade. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S.

9:48Ken Thomas:will fire on any Iranian vessels that threaten American ships. He added that Washington was expecting a response from Tehran today about a proposed memo to end the war. And Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a three-day ceasefire and prisoner exchange. President Trump announced in a social media post that the pause in fighting will begin tomorrow. It coincides with Russia's annual Victory Day, a celebration of the country beating Germany in World War II. Ukraine and Russia both confirmed the ceasefire. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, What's News in Markets.

10:23Ken Thomas:Then on Sunday, we'll have the latest episode of our USA 250 series. It's all about how America fell in love, then out of love with nuclear energy, and how now attitudes may be changing again. That's in What's News Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis and Anthony Bansi, with supervising producer Tali Arbel. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Chris Zinsley is our deputy editor. And I'm Alex Osula. Have a great weekend and thanks for listening.

11:03Chao Deng:Hey, this is Telus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're reporters at The Wall Street Journal and the hosts of WSJ's Take on the Week. It's a weekly show that gives listeners a leg up in the world of markets and investing. From the Fed's moves to market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players and business news ahead.

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11:25Chao Deng:Visit subscribe.wsj.com slash take on the week to subscribe now.