Americans Brace for Unemployment Apocalypse—But Keep Shopping!
According to the University of Michigan, a staggering 62% of Americans now expect unemployment to surge in the next year—their gloom matching Great Recession levels, decades after markets tanked. Yet, paradoxically, President Trump's tariffs have turned consumers into economic doomsday preppers who 'are still bracing for an increase in inflation to come,' says survey director Joanne Hsu. Ironically, while hiring stalls like a bad Tinder date, layoffs do too, with unemployment stubbornly low at 4.2%. So yes, everyone’s panicking—and as usual, none of it makes much actual sense.
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When you hear 62% of Americans expect a job market disaster but see unemployment barely twitching, you realize everyone’s prepping for a hurricane in a hurricane shelter that’s still leaking all the way up top.
Unemployment fears are so trendy right now, even though the jobless rate is at a Netflix-binge-worthy 4.2%—you can’t scare millennials without a little drama, can you?
We’re still prepping for doom because believing in inflation and job loss pumped up more than their retirement accounts: it’s the unofficial sport of post-tariff America.
Source: Axios | Published: 8/16/2025 | Author: Courtenay Brown
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