Unemployment affects economy

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Labor Department’s January employment report was extremely strong by absolutely any standard. Don’t be distracted by the argument that “seasonal adjustments are misleading.” It’s true that several monthly jobs reports have been suspect over the past couple of years because COVID-related disruptions in normal hiring cycles affected the normally benign seasonal adjustment process. Those problems, though, happened near the beginning or end of the academic year and showed up almost entirely in school employment numbers. In contrast, January’s strong jobs growth was very much a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” report. Here are four key takeaways: First , there are 517,000 more jobs than in December, and almost 5 million more jobs than a year ago. Almost 25 million more jobs than in the worst of the COVID shutdown and 2.7 million more jobs than before the pandemic started. Second , the U.S. is in its fourth … [Read more...] about January’s Job Report Allays Big Concerns About The Economy’s Future

The U.S. economy added more than double the number of jobs expected in January, pushing the unemployment rate to the lowest since 1969 and complicating the Federal Reserve ’s effort to tame inflation. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday. January’s figures exceeded last year’s average monthly gain of 401,000, and the bureau also revised 2022’s total growth to almost 7.1 million from 6.4 million. hawkish after raising rates by just 25 basis points at its latest meeting. Yields on 10-year Treasurys , which move inversely to prices, jumped 13 basis points to more than 3.5%. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) , and hold rates higher for longer afterward. Jerome Powell , have emphasized the need to bring inflation down to the Fed’s target rate of 2%. The report came after weekly jobless claims , which are more volatile than monthly figures, fell to the lowest since April, not far above an all-time low set in 1968. The labor force participation rate and … [Read more...] about Job Growth Surged in January as Unemployment Fell to a 54-Year Low

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Despite waves of layoffs hitting some of the nation’s largest employers, the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell, and the labor market added back more jobs than expected in January—adding to signs the economy may not be slowing down enough enough for the Federal Reserve to back away from its aggressive campaign to tame rising prices. Key Facts Total employment increased by 517,000 in January—significantly more than the 187,000 new jobs economists were expecting, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. Despite growing announcements of corporate layoffs last month, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%—coming in below expectations for it to tick up to 3.6% and instead hitting the lowest level since 1969. "While we have seen many reported layoffs in the tech industry, there are other segments that are continuing to thrive," Bill Armstrong, president of recruiting at Safeguard … [Read more...] about Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4%

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Friday’s amazing job numbers — which continue to hit it out of the park — mean that no matter how often Wall Street talks itself into a Fed rate pause, it’s not going to happen any time soon. Barring a crash in commodity prices, inflation will need to fall to 5% before the Fed hits the brakes. “The fed will hate this set of numbers,” says Brian McCarthy, head of investment research firm Macrolens in Stamford, Conn. “January payrolls are always wonky due to annual revisions and an extreme seasonal adjustment, but with both hourly earnings and hours worked also looking much more robust than we were led to believe last month, there is no denying a picture of continued strength in the labor market, which is at odds with a gathering stream of layoff announcements.” The Federal Reserve already raised interest rates a quarter-point this week, its eighth hike since March . Those hikes, of course, could help slow the economy. … [Read more...] about Strong Labor Market Lends Itself To More Fed Hikes, But Not For Long

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The US Federal Reserve System is living in the past and undoing the future. Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have wielded interest rates like a sledgehammer, hoping to crush inflation the way Paul Volcker did in the 1980s. At this point, however, each additional swing of the sledgehammer hurts our chances of a “soft landing” in 2023 and a habitable planet in 2100. The sledgehammer cannot distinguish between companies that are building a clean, sustainable economy and those that keep us hyper-distracted by devices, hyper-addicted to fossil fuels and hyper-apathetic to inequality. It cannot distinguish between the haves who can weather a recession and the have-nots who will suffer most. Moreover, the Fed’s 2% inflation target is arbitrary. It was invented offhand in 1989 by Don Bash, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, in response to a law mandating that the country’s central bank have a target. It’s … [Read more...] about Mr. Powell, Drop The Sledgehammer And Start Innovating

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Identity management company Okta announced plans on Thursday to lay off roughly 300 employees, one day after FedEx, DraftKings, cloud data company NetApp and automaker Rivian all announced major rounds of layoffs—the latest U.S. companies to implement job cuts as recession fears continue into 2023. Timeline February 2 Okta CEO Todd McKinnon unveiled plans to reduce the tech company’s workforce by 5% (roughly 300 positions) in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday, citing a period of over-hiring over the past several years that did not account for the “macroeconomic reality we’re in today.” February 1 NetApp , a San Jose, California-based cloud data company, announced plans in an SEC filing to lay off 8% of its staff ( estimated to affect 960 employees) by the end of the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023 “in light of the macroeconomic challenges and reduced spending environment.” … [Read more...] about 2023 Layoffs: Okta Slashes 300 Jobs As DraftKings, FedEx Cut Staff

The U.S. added 517,000  jobs in January, more than two and a half times what economists anticipated, as the unemployment rate nudged down to 3.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Economists had predicted that the nation would add roughly 187,000 jobs, and that the unemployment rate would nudge up to 3.6% from 3.5%, roughly where it has lingered for the past several months , The Wall Street Journal reported . Previously, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had estimated that the unemployment rate would climb to roughly 4.6% by the end of 2023, as markets slowed in response to the Fed’s anti-inflationary campaign of interest rate hikes, in a Dec. 14 press conference . At 3.4%, the unemployment rate hit the lowest level since May 1969 , as “widespread” job growth, led by 128,000 jobs added in the leisure and hospitality sector, pushed January’s job growth past the 2022 year-long average of 401,000 jobs per month, according to the BLS. Government … [Read more...] about Jobs Market Runs Red Hot In January, But Economists Fear Downturn Is Coming

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The just-released Employment Situation Report from the Department of Labor for January 2023 reports an eye-opening 517,000 new payroll jobs. This is much higher than forecasts which predicted 200,000 or less. Payroll growth was widespread across sectors of the economy, with the largest gains in leisure/hospitality (128,000) and professional services (82,000) - representing the lowest and highest skill groups in the labor market. But growth was very widespread across sectors. The household data - which broadly move in the same direction as payroll but not necessarily in each month - were relatively stable, with unemployment dropping to 3.4% but labor force participation remaining roughly the same (at 62.4%). But perhaps the most important numbers - especially from the Federal Reserve’s point of view - were in hourly wage growth. For all workers, wage growth (on an annualized basis) was 3.6%, and for … [Read more...] about Schizophrenic Job Market: Very Strong Payroll Growth But Modest Wages

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Imagine. You’re expecting a new bike for Christmas, but you come downstairs to find under your Christmas tree a … fob for a new SUV! That’s what we who observe and advise on the job market feel like today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their January Jobs Report and it was by every measure an absolute blockbuster: 517,000 jobs created, blowing away most expectations of “experts” who were all figuring we’d see growth of 180K jobs or so. And if the 517K isn’t enough for the few skeptics left in captivity, job growth for November and December were adjusted upward by a combined 70,000. The “experts” also pretty much agreed that the unemployment rate, at a 50-year low of 3.5%, would likely tick up to 3.6%, (which wouldn’t have been such a disaster). It didn’t. It dipped further to 3.4%, lowest since 1969 and not bettered until we go back to October 1953. This becomes even more astonishing in the face of 86,000 tech sector … [Read more...] about Expecting A Bike, Getting A Car

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The mass tech layoff impacted women across the board and turned the tables in the tech industry. Perseverance and practical advice from experts are needed more than ever, especially for the BIPOC woman in tech. According to Crunchbase , over 58,000 U.S. tech workers have been laid off due to budget and job cuts in 2023. Sadly this is just the beginning, and more layoffs will take place throughout the year. In January, data from layoffs.fyi , shows another wave of layoffs took place with private and public startups across the U.S. workforce. Some notable companies are: Coinbase 2,110 layoff's Amazon 18,000 layoff's Salesforce 9090 layoff's (Google) Alphabet 12000 layoff's SAP 3000 layoff's IBM 3900 layoff's The economy has made a drastic shift to deal with the reality of the tech fast growth mentality and hiring quickly and recklessly. According to Crunchbase , in 2022, when the … [Read more...] about 8 Tips For Black Women Navigating Tech Layoffs