A labor economist I follow explains that this is just a side-effect of the shutdown, but other sources of employment data show that things have not deteriorated

A labor economist I follow explains that this is just a side-effect of the shutdown, but other sources of employment data show that things have not deteriorated too much from the months prior. There have been some general, very slightly concerning trends for a while now, but the large layoff numbers we hear of are not (yet) reflected in the broader data. The job market is surprisingly stable, in the sense that hiring is not dropping and neither are layoffs growing (much). However, if you do lose a job, it is very hard to find another one. You do not want to be in that situation.