In a recent article released by the New York Times, job growth and increased employment has been thoroughly discussed in regards to the past couple of months. The previous month there has been an increase of 303,000 jobs, making it the thirty ninth consecutive month of growth. Additionally, last month the unemployment rate decreased by 0.10 percent from the previous month, 3.9% to 3.8%. While this may not seem that significant, hourly wages have also been rising ahead of inflation as of late which has been a great deal to many working class families in America. However, while this is good progress, levels of disposable income have not yet reached where they once were pre-pandemic.While it is safe to assume that many consumers and businesses are still frustrated with higher prices over the past three years, the economy is still overall in a healthy state.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/business/economy/jobs-report-march-2024.html
I wonder how sustainable is the current trend of job growth and wage increases in relation to inflation.
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic that Prof. Skosples also covered on the last day of the class. He also brings up the question of why the labor force is not returning to work. There could be various factors at play here. A few significant factors he brought up were the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as health concerns and shifting priorities and preferences toward remote work.
ReplyDeleteDespite the positive indicators of job growth and wage increases, why have levels of disposable income not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels?
ReplyDeleteIs there any hope that the level of disposable income will ever return to its pre-pandemic levels if inflation keeps rising and continues its current trend?
ReplyDeleteFrom the perspective of the Fed, these numbers continue to drive whether or not they are going to cut interest rates. There is also a growing camp now that seems to think if these numbers are still coming in higher than expected, Jerome Powell and the Fed may have to actually raise interest rates again. This data dependent approach has created some interesting theories about how it will all play out.
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