Daniel Zhao
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danielzhao.bsky.social
Daniel Zhao
@danielzhao.bsky.social
Glassdoor Chief Economist
glassdoor.com/research
I post charts about the job market and workplace trends

Formerly known as @DanielBZhao on Twitter

Maryland born & raised, now in NYC
A few mentions of increased demand for temporary/contract labor to let businesses stay flexible and not have to commit to full-time workers.

Seeing that trend in ASA Staffing Index (up YoY since 9/21), but not in temp help services employment

Beige Book, Jan 2026, Minneapolis Fed
January 14, 2026 at 8:11 PM
credit to @orcma.bsky.social for pointing out in absolute terms, retail does actually explain a large part of the difference, so maybe next month's methodology chg will help more than i originally thought

bsky.app/profile/dani...
Good call, I had been focusing on the % chgs by sector, not the # chgs. (If you'll excuse the quick & dirty chart) retail does explain a large part of this. So maybe the methodology chg to exclude internet sales will help much more to close the gap.
January 14, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Good call, I had been focusing on the % chgs by sector, not the # chgs. (If you'll excuse the quick & dirty chart) retail does explain a large part of this. So maybe the methodology chg to exclude internet sales will help much more to close the gap.
January 14, 2026 at 3:35 PM
No, unfortunately not in this data
January 14, 2026 at 3:30 PM
One possibly relevant note: In next month's report on Feb 11, applications "associated with internet sales" will be excluded from high-propensity & corporation applications (retroactively + fwd). Could help shrink the gap, but the sectoral distribution suggests to me that isn't the whole story

4/4
January 14, 2026 at 3:29 PM
FWIW, WBA (business applications with planned wages) seem more plausibly likely to predict actual employment growth from new businesses so this is relevant from a jobs growth POV.

3/
January 14, 2026 at 3:26 PM
There's not an obvious sector explanation (say, somebody who sets up an etsy store as a side gig). Almost every sector has seen business applications with planned wages underperform business applications in total.

2/
January 14, 2026 at 3:17 PM
I don't view that as a bias issue, but instead a methodology one. I don't love the approach w/ OER but I'm also not convinced I have a strictly better solution either.
January 13, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Also credit to OP for asking this q respectfully. I don't expect the average person to have a good understanding of how the BLS works and why we trust it so I don't mind getting the q, but people insisting it's wrong/biased w/o knowing what they're talking about is grating.
January 13, 2026 at 7:24 PM