Take Your Job and Shove It
December 3, 2021 The November employment report was both surprising and revealing. Payroll employment rose by 210 thousand which was far smaller than the 550 thousand gain that had been expected. Some economists suggest that outcome is a sign of emerging weakness...
GDP, Inflation, and Interest Rate Forecasts
December 3, 2021 GDP growth slipped to 2.1% in the third quarter as an increase in COVID cases dampened the pace of consumer spending, and as supply constraints limited the ability of firms to produce. But COVID cases have fallen 55% since reaching a peak in early...
Purchasing Managers Index — Nonmanufacturing
December 3, 2021 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 service sector business activity (production) index jumped rose 4.5 points in...
Payroll Employment
December 3, 2021 Payroll employment rose by 210 thousand in November which was far less than the expected increase of 550 thousand. This compares to an increase of 546 thousand in October and 379 thousand in September. But this is only one piece of the story. ...
Private Employment
December 3, 2021 .Private sector employment rose by 235 thousand in November which was far less than the expected increase of 550 thousand. This compares to an increase of 628 thousand in October and 424 thousand in September. But this is only one piece of the...
Unemployment Rate
December 3, 2021 The unemployment rate plunged by 0.4% in November to 4.2% after having fallen 0.2% in October and 0.4% in September. The labor force rose by 594 thousand in November. But employment jumped by 1,136 thousand.. As a result, the number of...
Nonfarm Workweek
December 3, 2021 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 rose by 210 thousand in November. In addition to hiring people, businesses can...
Average Hourly Earnings
December 3, 2021 Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in November to $31.03 after having climbed 0.4% in September The year-over-year increase currently is 4.8%. Hourly earning are now considerably higher than the $28.51 level that existed in February 2020 -- just...
Average Duration of Unemployment
December 3, 2021 The average duration of unemployment rose 2.2 weeks in November to 28.9 weeks after having fallen by 1.7 weeks in October. Many of the people that became unemployed in 2020 remain unemployed. It has been steady at about this same level since the...
Initial Unemployment Claims
December 2, 2021 Initial unemployment claims for the week of November 27 rose 28 thousand to 222 thousand after having fallen 76 thousand in the previous week. After reaching a peak of 6,867 thousand at the end of March of last year initial claims had been...
Follow Me