United States Employment Statistics (March 2022)
March saw employment in the professional, business services, finance, and retail sectors rebound to levels above those before the COVID-19 pandemic (global outbreak). Despite headwinds such as high inflation, tighter financial policy, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. economy appears to be maintaining solid momentum. (Reuters)
For now, the Fed’s focus is on inflation, so as long as the employment report isn’t deteriorating in particular, there’s no need to look at the details...
Employment is recovering steadily
Unemployment rate is at an extremely low level
The movements of the average and median duration of unemployment do not align.
There is some distortion in the labor market, but it is nonetheless improving, so not to worry.
The most attention-getting part of the employment data is wage growth.
Price rises (→ real wages decline) → wage growth → price rises
a vicious cycle can be seen
Wages come in two types: for all workers and for production workers (excluding managers).
Typically, the growth rates aren’t markedly different, but currently wage growth for production workers is higher.
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