Workers are growing more confident in their ability to find a job, according to the most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 5.1 million separations from employment on the back of 6.65 million job openings during October, according to the survey. … READ MORE >
A K-shaped wage environment: Abnormalities in wage and benefit growth during the pandemic
The economic distortions of the pandemic are becoming increasingly evident in the divergent fortunes of the nation’s workers. Hourly wages are rising at a solid rate among nonsupervisory workers, but that’s primarily because of the reduction in force of low-wage workers. … READ MORE >
Looking forward: Canada’s economy in 2021
Canadian output is likely to expand by roughly 4 per cent in 2021 and 2022. While this is solid, the Canadian economy is not likely to reach its full capacity to produce until 2023. … READ MORE >
Coronavirus update: More records to be broken as human toll mounts
A record 237,000 new cases were reported on Dec. 4 and a record 2,921 people died from the COVID-19 disease on Dec. 3, according to the Worldometers database. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Estimating unemployment during the pandemic
Friday’s headline U3 unemployment rate of 6.7% is probably an undercount of the number of out-of-work people, not by design, but by the peculiar circumstances of the pandemic. … READ MORE >
U.S. November employment report: Winter is coming
The recall of workers and job creation continued to slow in November to 245,000, while the unemployment rate declined to 6.7%, just ahead of what is likely to be a pandemic-induced drag on domestic labor market conditions over the next few months. … READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: ISM service sector index growth continues
The November ISM Non-Manufacturing Index eased to 55.9, which is below the six-month average of 57.1, indicating solid growth in the service sector even as the pandemic rages. … READ MORE >
Coronavirus update: Ethical aspects of vaccinations
The successful release of one or more vaccines presents society with the issue of who gets vaccinated first and then the succeeding phases of distribution. This will challenge our society to the core. … READ MORE >
November jobs preview: Employment-to-population ratio and the likelihood of a double-dip recession
We expect that improvement in the labor market will continue to slow to near 370,000 on the month with the unemployment rate falling to 6.8% when the Labor Department releases its jobs data on Friday. … READ MORE >
RSM US Manufacturing Outlook Index indicates tempered growth
The RSM US Manufacturing Outlook Index is starting to show cracks in the optimism of the past few months as the economy decelerates and the pandemic intensifies. … READ MORE >