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So, it was simply Labor Day Weekend, and whereas all of us needs to be out NOT laboring, I spent a part of the lengthy vacation weekend interested by a number of of my favourite FRED charts.
Slightly than embody all of my favorites, I set a problem for myself: Restrict the record to the three most telling charts:
U3 Unemployment Price: When has unemployment been decrease than as we speak? Hardly, however there are 3 particular eras: Following the lengthy, gradual post-GFC restoration, simply earlier than the pandemic, January 2020 U3 was at 3.5%; Previous to that you need to return greater than a century to October 1968 to Could 1969 when the Unemployment fee was at 3.4%; earlier than that, it was quickly after WWII, in 1952-53, when Unemployment was below 3%(!) bottoming in June 1953 at 2.5%.
Job Openings: Complete Nonfarm: Take into account what number of jobs stay unfilled as we speak and you’ve got a way of so many different points on this financial system: Provide chain snarlls, resulting in items shortages, resulting in inflation, and many others. The excellent news is that this post-pandemic spike seems very aberrational and (hopefully) momentary. To repair that is easy however not straightforward: Extra immigration, COLA minimal wage, and many others.
Wages (relative to Inflation): Wages typically haven’t stored up with inflation over the previous 50 years. (That is very true for the underside half of earners). The chart beneath reveals areas the place inflation is above wages, and which means employees’ salaries are lagging behind their dwelling bills. Making issues worse, a lot of the time when inflation is beneath hourly wages, it is because of a recession together with steep will increase in Unemployment. (To see wages alone w/o CPI, see this FRED chart).
I’m hard-pressed to seek out three different charts that aren’t solely as instructive concerning the labor market but in addition so informative about your entire present financial system.
Any options? Share them here.
Beforehand:
The Nice Resignation Is Lengthy Over (July 27, 2022)
$1.395 Trillion Peak Unemployment Insurance coverage (March 4, 2022)
Elvis (Your Waiter) Has Left the Constructing (July 9, 2021)
Wages in America
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