LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Wall Street Journal: Hilsenrath: Jobs Report Makes June Rate Rise by Fed Less Likely (Friday)
• CNN: Debt Deniers Ignoring the Truth (Friday)
• Wall Street Journal: Affordable Starter Homes Prove Increasingly Elusive (Friday)
• Bloomberg: Global Plunge in Bond Yields Undercuts Fed Interest Rate Views (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: The Rise of Knowledge Workers Is Accelerating Despite the Threat of Automation (Wednesday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Productivity and Costs (Q1-2016)

Nonfarm Business Sector

• Productivity (output per hour, annual rate): -1.0%, Recovery avg.: 1.0%
  • Output: 0.4%
  • Hours worked: 1.5%
• Real hourly compensation: 3.4%
• Unit labor costs: 4.1%
• Noteworthy: From the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, productivity increased 0.6% and real hourly compensation grew 1.7%. Productivity growth for the fourth quarter of 2015 was revised slightly upward to -1.7% from -2.2%. The annual average for 2015 nonfarm business labor productivity growth remained unchanged at 0.7% for 2015.

 

JEC Releases:

• Coats Statement on April Jobs Report (Friday)
• Debunking the Dangerous Claims of Debt Deniers (Wednesday)
• GDP Review: Context for First Quarter 2016 GDP (Monday)

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• Labor Market Conditions Index (10am, Monday)
• Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (10am, Tuesday)
• Treasury Budget (2pm, Wednesday)
• Import and Export Prices (8:30am, Thursday)
• Retail Sales (8:30am, Friday)
• Producer Price Index for Final Demand (8:30am, Friday)
• Business Inventories (10am, Friday)

Chart of the Week:

 

 

As shown in the chart above, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) household survey data revealed a significant drop in seasonally adjusted employment, down 316,000 in April (different from the establishment survey’s payroll jobs numbers, which grew by 160,000). Apart from the October 2013 government shutdown, which dramatically affected employment numbers for October and November of that year, this is the largest decline in seasonally adjusted employment data since December 2009. Please see the labor review for more analysis of the BLS jobs data released last Friday.