Jaguar Land Rover cuts 4,000 jobs; gas hits Labor Day record

Younger workers’ unemployment near decades low in split market

Jaguar Land Rover is cutting 4,000 jobs as the British automaker contends with President Trump’s tariffs, a sales collapse in China and big investments in electric vehicles, according to The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Journal Morning Ledger newsletter, published Tuesday. The cuts follow a decision last week by Volkswagen’s supervisory board to approve a plan to double job losses at the German automaker to 100,000, the newsletter reported. The WSJ attributed the deepening cuts at Volkswagen to intensifying competition from Chinese automakers.

The newsletter’s coverage of the U.S. labor market described a split picture. Over the Labor Day weekend, WSJ reporters Theo Francis and Ray A. Smith reported that unemployment among younger workers sits at one of its lowest levels in decades. At the same time, the pair found, young professionals with college degrees are having one of their worst times looking for jobs, with conditions even harder for those with advanced degrees or in science and technology fields.

Walden Siew, the newsletter’s author and CFO Journal bureau chief, wrote that the disconnect is “more fodder for those debating the value of higher education, and whether a college degree is still worth it.” He added that he has discussed the topic with finance professionals and his own colleagues, and reported a general consensus that “the value of a liberal arts education should be of greater value, as students build long-lasting human skills that AI and algorithms cannot replace.”

Drivers returning from the Labor Day holiday faced a record national gasoline price. The average reached $4.15 on Monday, up from $4.08 a week earlier, according to the American Automobile Association. The previous Labor Day record was $3.82, set in 2012.

Equity and fixed-income markets were closed Monday in observance of the U.S. Labor Day holiday.

The newsletter previewed a busy economic data slate for the week: the producer price index and consumer price index for August from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, existing-home sales for August from the National Association of Realtors, and the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey for September. On the corporate side, Adobe, Macy’s, Oracle and RH were among companies scheduled to report earnings.

Apple was scheduled to host its “Surprise and shine” launch event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters — the first launch event for new CEO John Ternus, who replaced Tim Cook on Sept. 1, the newsletter said.

Separately, smart-ring maker Oura filed to go public on Thursday in an offering expected to value the company at more than $11 billion, with retail brokerage Robinhood Markets listed as a surprise underwriter. The newsletter called it Robinhood’s first official underwriting role. Robinhood, the newsletter noted, is the retail brokerage of meme-stock fame that has in recent years expanded its business well beyond equity and options trading. San Francisco-based Oura, founded in Finland in 2013 and best known for its fitness-tracking rings, is popular among health and longevity enthusiasts and has many fans on Wall Street, according to the newsletter.