http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31167969
This article gives a summary of the jobs added figures for the month of January. This is the 11th consecutive month for the US has added more than 200,000 jobs per month, the best streak since January. It's getting clearer and clearer that the US is approaching full recovery, as Obama stated in his State of Union address that the US has added more jobs than Europe, Japan and all advanced economies combined. The unemployment rate is at 5.7% now, as more people are now actively ,seeking jobs. While the numbers are positive and the Fed as stopped buying bonds vigorously, there's still 'easy' money, explained by the low interest rates. It is anticipated that the Fed will raise interest rates slowly in 2015. One revealing statistic from the article is that right now between ages 16-64, 76.5% are employed, while in mid 2008 it was 81%.
This article gives a summary of the jobs added figures for the month of January. This is the 11th consecutive month for the US has added more than 200,000 jobs per month, the best streak since January. It's getting clearer and clearer that the US is approaching full recovery, as Obama stated in his State of Union address that the US has added more jobs than Europe, Japan and all advanced economies combined. The unemployment rate is at 5.7% now, as more people are now actively ,seeking jobs. While the numbers are positive and the Fed as stopped buying bonds vigorously, there's still 'easy' money, explained by the low interest rates. It is anticipated that the Fed will raise interest rates slowly in 2015. One revealing statistic from the article is that right now between ages 16-64, 76.5% are employed, while in mid 2008 it was 81%.
7 comments:
I'd personally be curious to see what the state-by-state and sector-by-sector outliers were, positive and negative, to see where specifically this recovery of the labor market is and isn't taking place. I'd also be curious in the estimated annual wages for these new jobs -- are they part-time and low-paying, or are the middle and upper ends of the jobs market beginning to recover as well?
Given some of the data in the article, such as the rise in average hourly wages, as well as increases in new car sales, it appears that this growth is extending to middle class positions as well, and that consumer confidence may be on the upswing.
That last statistic mentioned, about the percentage employed between the ages of 12-64 is quite interesting, given that in 2008 was the housing crisis which was the beginning of the recession. Although we have come a long way since then, 5% less people in that age range are employed despite the added job figures.
The 5% less can probably be accounted for because there are still so many people who have left the job market because of discouragement. Jobs are definitely being added now, but they're not as evenly spread geographically.
While the United States is finally seeing economic stability and success, the global market is clearly struggling. I think it will be interesting to see how the persistent struggle of the global market impacts the US economy, specifically the job market.
This is a great sign to see that the United States is almost at full recovery from the recession. This is great timing for college students like us to be entering the labor force with better economic stability and lower unemployment rates. I still think though that there will be little glimpses or reminders that we are "still in" a recession. Since the United States economy continues to show signs of improvement, I wonder if we will see an increase of immigration or labor mobility to the U.S. from various regions of the world that are hurting economically.
While it is very positive to see that the unemployment rate for ages 16-64 is decreasing, this is still an alarmingly high percentage. I also feel that it is nice to see that the unemployment rate is decreasing and that more and more people are seeking jobs, however, I only feel that it is this way because most states have changed their time restraints on unemployment benefits. I would like to see how the unemployment rate changes with more low skilled jobs being created and other such things.
I feel that the US job market is forever changed by the Great Recession. The percentage of people employed in the 16-64 category is lower, but this could be due to a higher percentage of students attending college instead of working. Also, some people took early retirement packages due to the great recession. I feel that this figure will be more telling in 5 years. It appears that the US was one of the strongest economies coming out of the Great Recession.
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