US Labor Market Expectations Soften Slightly, but Delinquency Expectations Improve

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the February 2026 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that households’ inflation expectations declined at the short-term horizon and remained unchanged at the medium- and longer-term horizons. Labor market expectations saw a modest slowdown as earnings growth expectations declined, voluntary job separation probabilities decreased, and confidence in finding new employment weakened, despite a small improvement in job loss and overall unemployment expectations. Expectations for future credit access and missing a minimum debt ... (full story)