by sslifer | Feb 12, 2021 | Commentary for the Week, NumberNomics Notes
February 12, 2021 In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Fed Chair Powell did a nice job of highlighting the benefits of full employment. In such a situation benefits accrue to all sexes, races, education, and income levels. He then noted that the labor...
by sslifer | Feb 5, 2021 | Commentary for the Week, NumberNomics Notes
February 5, 2021 The employment report for January was generally interpreted as a disappointment because payroll jobs rose by 49 thousand and the December decline, which was originally published as a drop of 140 thousand, was revised to a larger decline of 227...
by sslifer | Feb 3, 2021 | NumberNomics Notes, Union Charts
February 3, 2021 In 2020 14.3 million workers belonged to a union. Of those 7.1 million were in the public sector compared to 7.2 million in the private sector. However, the union membership rate for public sector workers at 34.8% was substantially higher than the...
by sslifer | Feb 3, 2021 | Federal Reserve, Interest Rates, NumberNomics Notes
February 3, 2021 Once the recession began in December 2007 the Fed tried to stimulate the economy and ultimately pushed the funds rate almost to 0%. It remained at that record low level until December 2015 With the funds rate at 0% and inflation persistently falling...
by sslifer | Feb 3, 2021 | Housing, Interest Rates, NumberNomics Notes
February 3, 2021 Once the recession began in December 2007 the Fed tried to stimulate the economy and ultimately pushed the funds rate almost to 0%. It remained at that record low level until December 2015 .Right after the election in November 2016 mortgage rates...
by sslifer | Jan 29, 2021 | Commentary for the Week, NumberNomics Notes
January 29, 2021 The Fed currently pegs the federal funds rate at 0%. Clearly that is a low rate. But exactly how low is it? What might be regarded as a neutral level for the funds rate? It is not an easy question to answer because the neutral rate seems to be...
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