February 4, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January. The official unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4% from 3.9% in December, as more people moved off the sidelines to enter the labor market. Over the past 12 months, the United States has added nearly 7 million jobs.
January 7, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Non-farm payrolls grew by 199,000 in December (and a revised 249,000 in November) the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the U.S. economy to add 450,000 jobs in the month. The official unemployment rate fell to 3.9% from 4.2% in November and an expected 4.1%.
June 10, 2021 | Daily JAM |
As long as we’re on the subject of the labor market and how hard it is to figure out whether or not we’re about to see an outbreak of wage-driven inflation in this economy, let’s take a quick look at the June 8 release of the JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) from the Departed of Labor. On the one hand, the survey showed that job openings hit a record high of 9.3 million in April. The number of hirings stayed essentially level at 6.1 million. On the other hand, separations increased to 5.8 million. Separations is a category that includes firings, layoffs, and quits with quits considered by by voluntary separations initiated by the employee, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And it’s the quits category that’s especially interesting right now.
May 3, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in April. (The March jobs number was revised downward.) The gains for April exceeded all estimates from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The official unemployment rate fell to 3.6%. In March the Federal Reserve had forecast that...
February 1, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Last week the Federal Reserve signaled a huge policy change--no (or at most one) interest rate increase in 2019 and flexibility on continuing/ending the $50 billion a month program to reduce the size of the Fed's balance sheet. Markets cheered the shift on interest...
January 4, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
The U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported this morning. The government statisticians also revised November's report to show the addition of 176,000 jobs instead of the prior report of 155,000. Economists surveyed by  Briefing.com...
December 4, 2018 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
Today markets are seeing a pullback as investors and traders have been left scratching their heads about exactly what, if anything, was agreed during the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (With some added nervousness because...
November 9, 2018 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The 3.1% year over year growth in average hourly wages reported for October is, by itself, enough to convince the Federal Reserve that an increase in inflation, long awaited with concern, is visible on the horizon. Today's jump in the Producer Price Index (PPI) for...
October 5, 2018 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term, You Might Have Missed |
The economy added only 134,000 new jobs in September--probably a result of Hurricane Florence. But a huge revision to August and July job gains more than offset the weak current month. Economists surveyed surveyed by Briefing.com had projected the economy would add...
July 6, 2018 | Daily JAM |
You 've got to remember that at this point in the Federal Reserve cycle good is bad and bad is good. So, by itself the good news in the June jobs report this morning would be counted as bad news. The economy added 213,000 jobs in June, well above the 195,000 projected...
February 22, 2018 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
This morning’s report of a 7,000 drop in initial claims for unemployment to 220,000 for the week ended February 17 raises the odds of another strong jobs report when the data for February are published on Friday, March 9.Â
February 2, 2018 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
The U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the 180,000 net new jobs. The official unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. The big news, though–the news that has rattled the bond market–is the increase in average hourly earnings