San José, CA – On Wednesday, August 21, the U.S. Department of Labor released an initial estimate reducing the number of net new jobs created from April 2023 to March 2024 by 818,000, or about 28%. This is the biggest adjustment since 2009, the year after the Great Financial Crisis. The adjustment was about five times as big as previous years’ adjustments.

San José, CA – Average weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, fell in July despite a drop in inflation. While average hourly wages outpaced inflation by one-tenth of one percent, or 0.1% ,in July, the average work week fell by three-tenths of one percent, or 0.3%. This meant the average weekly real earnings, which takes into account wage increases, inflation and the average number of hours worked, actually fell by two-tenths of one percent, 0.2%.

San José, CA – The decline in U.S. stock prices accelerated on Monday, August 5, with the broadest measure of large corporate stocks, the S&P 500, falling more than 160 points or 3%. Fears of a recession contributed to declines in stock prices around the world.

San José, CA – The latest jobs report released Friday, August 2, triggered new fears of a recession as the official unemployment rate rose to 4.3%. This pushes the three-month average unemployment rate up by more than one-half of one percent from its recent low. An increase of this size has been associated with a recession for the last 50 years.

San José, CA – On Thursday, July 18, the weekly report on unemployment insurance showed 243,000 new claims for the week ending July 13. This was 20,000 higher than the previous week.

San José, CA – On Friday, July 5, the Department of Labor released its monthly employment report for the month of June. While mainstream news sources such as the Associated Press described the labor market as “healthy” the report was riddled with warning signs of a weaker jobs market.

San José, CA – The February 2024 employment report released by the Department of Labor on Friday, March 8 continued to show signs of weakness. While total job creation seemed healthy, with 275,000 net new jobs reported by the survey of employers, there were significant downsides to the overall report.

San José, CA – The January 2024 jobs report was labeled “Blockbuster” by the New York Times, “Hot” by the Wall Street Journal, and “Shockingly Strong” by the Washington Post. Yet the headlines of three of the national newspapers failed to capture the weaker side of the report.

San José, CA – On Tuesday, September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2022. The report on poverty was dire, with the poverty rate as measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure, or SPM, jumping almost 60% between 2021 and 2022.

Continuing claims hits highest number since November 2021

San José, CA – On Thursday, July 21, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of people collecting unemployment insurance benefits, increased by 51,000 for the week ending July 16. This brought the total number to 1,384,000, the highest since November 2021. New claims for unemployment insurance increased to 251,000, also the highest since November. The increase was only 7000 over the week before, but most economists had expected the number of new claims to fall.