While the unemployment rate dropped and jobs were added, several other measures dropped. The average hourly earnings dropped by 3 cents, and the U-6 rate, the number of people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who would like full-time work, also fell to 9.3 percent. Economists are not worried about either of these numbers since throughout the year earnings have actually increased 2.5 percent and the U-6 rate is at its lowest since April of 2008. It will be interesting to see how these rates, if any, will be affected throughout Donald Trump's time in office and what the differences will be at the end of his term.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/jobless-rate-hits-nine-year-low-n691111
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/02/u-s-economy-added-178000-jobs-in-november-unemployment-rate-drops-to-4-6-percent/?utm_term=.f2185b7b1510
If the drop in unemployment is partially due to baby boomers retiring then if a few months or years, unemployment rate would return to what it was before they began retiring. More students are graduating each year so more jobs will be needed in the market. I would like to see how the Trump administration tackle that issue.
ReplyDeleteThe baby boomers generation is very big with an 18 year span, so their affect on the market could last for some time. With lower LFPR, if Trump's future policies actually do bring jobs to the US market then unemployment should continue to drop drastically.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that despite the decreasing unemployment, increasing demand for workers, that the average hourly wage has decreased. Traditional thought would invoke a hourly wage rate increase with lower rates of unemployment.
ReplyDeleteIt should be interesting to see if Trumps policies bring jobs to the US and our employment continues to drop
ReplyDeleteIt is good for the economy that the unemployment rate is dropping, and since the idea that Trump has is to create more jobs and "bring them back", this number should keep decreasing. Knowing that this number is going to decrease the wages should start rising as the unemployment keeps falling, so we should see this in the next month and Trump's policies might actually benefit the economy and the workers.
ReplyDeleteWhile the increasing number of jobs and the decreasing unemployment rate are both good signs, I am curious as to how long the retiring baby boomers will have an affect on the labor participation rate as well as what seems to be an increasing amount of people choosing to go back to school or go to grad school right out of college instead of entering the labor force.
ReplyDelete