Sylvia A. Allegretto

3 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Matt Sedlar |Sylvia A. Allegretto

The rate of job growth slowed somewhat in May, as the economy created 139,000 new jobs. The prior two months’ numbers were revised down by 95,000, bringing the three-month average to 135,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent, keeping the unemployment rate in the narrow range between 4.0 percent and 4.2 percent that it has been in since last May. Healthcare Adds 62,200 Jobs, Again Leading GrowthThe healthcare sector has led employment growth throughout the recovery.

3 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Sylvia A. Allegretto |Algernon Austin

Donald Trump’s campaign promise to make overtime pay tax-free seems to have left Democrats looking like deer caught in the headlights. It looks like a pro-worker measure, even though it is bad from many perspectives. It actually should not be hard for progressives to think their way out of this one. It just requires going back to the original rationale for the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1937, which set the length of the normal workweek at 40 hours.

3 weeks ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Sylvia A. Allegretto

Donald Trump has placed a high priority on getting back manufacturing jobs. This is ostensibly the point of the tariffs he imposes before he takes them back. As many of us have pointed out, the tariff route is not necessarily a clever strategy. Many of the items we import are inputs into manufacturing in other sectors. For example, the big beautiful 50 percent tariff that Trump announced last week on imported steel is in effect a 50 percent tax on the steel that U.S. automakers put into their cars.

1 month ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Sylvia A. Allegretto

The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2 percent in April, keeping it in the narrow 4.0-4.2 percent range it has been in since May of last year. The job growth in the establishment survey was also solid at 177,000, although the previous two months’ numbers were revised down by 52,000. As in prior months, health care was by far the leading job gainer, adding 50,600 jobs. State and local governments continued to be big job gainers, together adding 19,000 jobs.

2 months ago | cepr.net | Data Bytes |Dean Baker |Sylvia A. Allegretto

The 228,000 job growth reported for March was considerably higher than most analysts had expected. It was accompanied by downward revisions of 48,000 to the prior two months’ data, so the net job growth was not quite as large as it first appeared. But there is no doubt that the labor market was still looking strong last month. The headwinds that we were looking at before the March report are still there and almost certainly stronger now.