LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Wall Street Journal: Population Surge in Cities Eases as Jobs Shift and Suburbs Call (Thursday)
• Market Watch: Fed’s Fischer Says U.S. Needs Faster Potential Growth (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: Fed to Markets: June Rate Increase Is on the Table (Wednesday)
• Economics 21: New Overtime Rule Causes Triple Damage to Economy (Wednesday)
• Reuters: Oil Rally Suggests Supply Worries Wane, But For How Long? (Tuesday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Consumer Price Index (April)

• Change from previous month: 0.4%
• Change less food & energy (M/M): 0.2%
• Noteworthy: The increase in the overall index was broad-based, with increases in shelter and medical care among the largest contributors, in addition to airline fares, recreation and education. The headline index rose 1.1% over the last 12 months, unadjusted. Core CPI (less food and energy) has risen 2.1% over the past 12 months.
• Series Detail: The CPI is a collection of indexes that measures the average change in consumer prices over time for a fixed basket of goods and services from the perspective of the consumer, whereas the producer price index for final demand (PPI-FD) measures price changes from the producer’s perspective.

 

JEC Releases:

• April State Employment Reports (Friday)
• Five Reasons Americans Can’t Afford the Affordable Care Act (Thursday)

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• New Home Sales

  (10am, Tuesday)
• International Trade in Goods (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Durable Goods Orders (8:30am, Thursday)
• Pending Home Sales Index (10am, Thursday)
• Gross Domestic Product (8:30am, Friday)

 

Chart of the Week:

 

 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes monthly labor force data to show the net change in the number of employed, unemployed, and out of the labor force. The chart above, however, shows gross labor flows on a monthly basis, giving a window into the underlying movements, or “churning,” occurring in the labor market each month. The data displayed above specifically show movement in and out of the labor force from one survey month to the next. The blue line shows the number of Americans who became employed after being previously counted as out of the labor force, while the orange line shows the number of Americans who left their jobs, such as those who retired, and therefore left the labor force. The green line indicates the number of Americans who moved into the labor force by actively looking for work, and are thus counted as unemployed, while the red line shows the number of Americans who were counted as unemployed in a previous survey month, including long-term unemployed, who failed to obtain jobs and dropped out of the labor force. For more information from BLS on labor force flows, see the 2005 article and 2008 article on the subject.