Businesses May Be Fighting Tariffs By Not Hiring 3/30/26

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Your Money Minute

Episode Title: Businesses May Be Fighting Tariffs By Not Hiring
Host: Jessica Ettinger (CNBC)
Date: March 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This concise "Your Money Minute" episode explores how ongoing tariffs are affecting U.S. businesses’ hiring practices. Host Jessica Ettinger, with insights from Gary Cohn (former National Economic Council director), explains how companies are responding to rising costs by cutting back on new hires or enacting layoffs. The episode unpacks the ripple effects of trade policies and macroeconomic pressures on the labor market, providing listeners with a quick yet insightful look at a key economic issue.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of Tariffs on Business Operations

• Companies and Tariffs:

  • Many businesses have been contending with the cost implications of tariffs for nearly a year ([00:00]).
  • To maintain profits, companies are limiting hiring or even reducing staff.

• Profit Pressure:

  • “If you're going through this period of time where your input costs go up and you don't feel like you have pricing power to the consumer, the company's going to get squeezed somewhere.”
    — Gary Cohn ([00:16])
  • Higher operating costs (from tariffs and other inputs) force companies to seek cost savings in other areas.

2. Human Capital as a Cost Lever

• Staff Cuts Over Price Hikes:
  • Businesses often cannot pass increased costs to consumers.
  • “Where they've been trying to alleviate the problem is they've been doing it through human capital. So human capital has been sort of the lever that companies have been pulling to make themselves profitable.”
    — Gary Cohn ([00:34])
  • “Human capital” refers to the workforce—people, employees, or workers ([00:46]).

3. Evidence in Recent Layoff Announcements

• Layoff Statistics:

  • In recent quarterly earnings announcements, major companies revealed over 100,000 layoffs ([00:51]).
  • This trend is likely to continue as businesses grapple with ongoing cost challenges.

• Multiple Pressures:

  • Factors identified include:
    • Higher interest rates
    • Higher input and commodity costs
    • Increased tariffs ([00:51])

4. Broader Labor Market Implications

• “Fighting a cost increase in one spot by reducing costs in another. It's part of running a business and it may be contributing to the low hire labor market.”
  — Jessica Ettinger ([01:07])
• The decision to adjust human capital underlines why hiring remains so slow, even as business conditions evolve.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Gary Cohn on what drives payroll cuts:

  “Where they've been trying to alleviate the problem is they've been doing it through human capital. So human capital has been sort of the lever that companies have been pulling to make themselves profitable.” ([00:34])

• Jessica Ettinger summarizing the business trade-off:

  “Fighting a cost increase in one spot by reducing costs in another. It's part of running a business and it may be contributing to the low hire labor market.” ([01:07])

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00 – Introduction and overview of how tariffs are impacting hiring
• 00:16 – Gary Cohn explains the squeeze on company profits
• 00:34 – Discussion of how human capital is used to manage costs
• 00:51 – Recent evidence: More than 100,000 layoffs announced
• 01:07 – Analysis of the broader implications for hiring and the labor market

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Conclusion

In this swift yet comprehensive money minute, CNBC highlights a key trend: as tariffs and costs climb, companies are pulling back on hiring, with tangible impacts on the labor market. Expert analysis from Gary Cohn provides economic context, while recent statistics show the pattern isn’t likely to end soon. Listeners are encouraged to consider not just the headlines, but the labor and business realities beneath them.

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[Listen to the full interview at cnbc.com]

Transcript

[A]

With a CNBC you Money minute. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Companies have been trying to handle the tariffs for nearly a year now. And it turns out some businesses have been protecting their profits by not hiring so much or even by cutting jobs.

[B]

So if you're going through this period of time where your input costs go up and you don't feel like you have pricing power to the consumer, the company's going to get squeezed somewhere.

[A]

That's former National Economic Council director in the first Trump administration, Gary Cohn on cnbc.

[B]

And where they've been trying to alleviate the problem is they've been doing it through human capital. So human capital has been sort of the lever that companies have been pulling to make themselves profitable.

[A]

Human capital, of course, is just a formal way of saying people or workers or employees.

[B]

And you saw it even in this last quarter's earnings announcements. We saw well over 100,000 announced layoffs in some of the bigger companies. And I think this is a trend we're going to continue to see as people fight with higher interest rate costs, higher input costs, higher commodity costs and more trade tariffs.

[A]

Fighting a cost increase in one spot by reducing costs in another. It's part of running a business and it may be contributing to the low hire labor market. The whole Interview [e-mail] I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC.

[C]

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