Early Signs of an Economic Slowdown
May 3, 2024 Economists have been waiting for the economy to slow for more than a year. Their dire warning of a recession last year proved completely off base as firms continued to hire workers and consumers continued to spend, but perhaps the economy is finally...
Car and Truck Sales
May 3, 2024 Unit car and truck sales rose 1.1% in April to 15,736 thousand after having fallen 0.9% in March The supply challenges that had curtailed car sales for more than two years has ended. The supplier delivery component of the purchasing managers' index...
Purchasing Managers Index — Nonmanufacturing
May 3, 2024 The Institute for Supply Management not only publishes an index of manufacturing activity each month, they publish two days later a survey of service sector firms. The business activity index plunged 6.5 points in April to 50.9 after rising 0.2 point...
Payroll Employment
May 3, 2024 Payroll employment for April climbed by 175 thousand in April after jumping by 315 housand in March and 226 thousand in February. In the past three months the average increase has been 242 thousand. The employment gains remain sizeable. It appears...
Private Employment
May 3, 2024 Private sector employment for May climbed by 167 thousand in April after jumping by 243 thousand in March and 181 thousand in February. In the past three months the average increase has been 197 thousand. The employment gains remain sizeable. It...
Unemployment Rate
May 3, 2024 The unemployment rate rose 0.1% in April to 3.9% after having fallen 0.1% in March In April the labor force rose by 87 thousand.. Employment rose by 25 thousand. As a result, the number of unemployed workers rose by 63 thousand and the unemployment...
Nonfarm Workweek
May 3, 2024 In any given month employers can boost output by either additional hiring workers or by lengthening the number of hours that their employees work. Payroll employment climbed by 175 thousand in April. At the same time the nonfarm workweek fell 0.1 hour...
Average Hourly Earnings
May 3, 2024 Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% in April to $34.75 after rising 0.3% in March. Earnings growth continues to slow from 5.5% at the beginning of last year to 3.9% currently. Presumably, the flood of workers from Latin America crossing over our...
Average Duration of Unemployment
May 3, 2024 The average duration of unemployment declined 1.7 weeks in April to 19.9 weeks after having risen 0.6 week in March. Its current level is roughly where it was prior to the recession in early 2020. After declining slowly for more than one year, it has...
Nonfarm Productivity
May 2, 2024 Non-farm productivity rose 0.3% in the first quarter after having climbed 3.5% in the fourth quarter after having jumped 4.6% in the third quarter. The first quarter increase consisted of a 1.3% increase in output combined with a 1.0% increase in...
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