The U.S. economy grew at a 3.6% annualized pace in the fourth quarter of 2025. Corporate profits as a share of GDP reached a post-World War II high. On paper, the numbers look solid.
But inside organizations, something else is happening.
According to KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk, the resilience of the economy “feels more illusory than real.”
Growth is real. So are the profits. What is not flowing is the money to the people doing the work. Organizations are capturing gains at a historic rate while employee compensation falls further behind, and workers know it. For HR leaders, that gap has a name, a face and a cost.
KPMG’s February 2026 Economic Compass report, written by Swonk, notes that “preliminary data suggest we ended 2025 with robust growth but without generating jobs.” The report claims that “growth decoupled from employment” due to productivity gains, AI‑driven investment, tariff dynamics and sector‑specific job cuts, especially in government.
The report noted that only healthcare and social assistance “really added jobs in a meaningful way,” underscoring how narrow the employment engines were relative to the broad sources of GDP growth.
The gap workers feel
KPMG’s data shows credit delinquencies hit their highest level since 2017 in late 2025, with subprime borrowers and Gen X workers carrying student loans feeling it most acutely. Luxury travel and first-class bookings are up while economy seats and budget hotel rooms sit empty, a split that maps almost perfectly onto what HR professionals see inside their own organizations: two workforces, sometimes sitting in the same open office, experiencing entirely different economic realities.
KPMG describes this divergence as a potential “revolution chart,” a measure of inequality that, left unaddressed, generates social and economic instability. For HR leaders, that instability does not stay outside the building. It walks in every morning. Workers who are quietly managing debt, who cannot afford a new car, who are watching corporate earnings reports while their own wages stagnate, are not arriving at work as confident, fully engaged contributors.
Employees feel pressure
The career consequences are measurable. New survey data from MyPerfectResume found that 43% of U.S. workers experience impostor syndrome at work, and 66% feel pressure to appear more confident or knowledgeable than they actually are.
Fifty-eight percent of workers say self-doubt has negatively affected their career growth. Seven percent say they have turned down major opportunities because of it. For HR leaders focused on retention, succession planning and organizational capability, these gaps could represent promotions not pursued, stretch assignments declined and institutional knowledge that never fully develops.
Meanwhile, KPMG notes that layoff announcements hit their highest level in nearly a decade in 2025, with CEOs citing AI as a justification before productivity gains from that technology have materialized. The anxiety that is created inside a workforce could be an active drag on engagement and performance.
Where HR leaders can intervene
The MyPerfectResume data points to one of the most actionable findings in either report: Sixty-five percent of workers say leaders rarely or never talk openly about their own doubts or mistakes. That silence is not neutral. It reinforces the idea that uncertainty is something to hide, and it keeps impostor syndrome cycling through teams without interruption.
HR leaders do not need to wait for the economy to rebalance to address what workers are feeling. Compensation transparency, meaningful feedback structures and leaders who model vulnerability are tools available now.
The KPMG report ends with Swonk’s simple prescription that applies equally inside organizations: “Trust may be in deficit, but it can be rebuilt, one careful step at a time. Tread cautiously. Be kind; pay it forward.”
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