Weekly Economic Update: July 10 – July 14, 2017
CHART OF THE WEEK
JEC Hearing: A Record 6 Million U.S. Job Vacancies: Reasons and Remedies
The number of job openings increased to a series high of 6.0 million on the last business day of April while hires fell to 5.1 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). Since 2000, when BLS started to publish this data, hires had always exceeded vacancies until late 2014. Vacancies recently have been exceeding hires by an increasing amount.
JEC will explore the reasons for this troubling gap and possible ways to better match workers with available jobs at its hearing on Wednesday, July 12, at 10:00am.
LAST WEEK
News & Commentary Weekly Highlights
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Adds a Robust 222,000 Jobs in June
MarketWatch: Fed might start balance-sheet drawdown in September, FOMC minutes hint
Economics21: DC Government Drove Grocery Stores from Poor Neighborhoods
Wall Street Journal: Opioid Prescription Rate in U.S. Declines, But CDC Says It Remains Elevated
Bloomberg: Renewables Top Nukes in U.S. Power Mix for First Time Since 1984
Top Economic Indicator Highlights
Employment Situation June May April
Nonfarm payroll jobs 222,000 152,000 207,000
Headline unemployment rate (U-3) 4.4% 4.3% 4.4%
“True” unemployment rate (U-6) 8.6% 8.4% 8.6%
Noteworthy: The nonfarm payroll jobs number exceeded expectations. The increase in the unemployment rate was due to an increase in the size of the labor force, which suggests that despite the low headline unemployment rate, the economy still has room to grow.
JEC Releases
Tiberi Statement on June Jobs Report
THIS WEEK
Upcoming Hearing
A Record Six Million U. S. Job Vacancies: Reasons and Remedies (Wednesday, July 12, 10:00am)
Upcoming Economic Data and Events
Monday
Survey of Consumer Expectations (11:00am)
Tuesday
Job Openings and Turnover Summary (JOLTS) (10:00am)
Wholesale Trade (10:00am)
Wednesday
Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations Survey (10:00am)
Federal Reserve Board of Governors Beige Book (2:00pm)
Thursday
Producer Price Index (8:30am)
Friday
Advance Retail Sales (8:30am)
Consumer Price Index (8:30am)
Real Earnings (8:30am)
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization (9:15am)
Business Inventories (10:00am)
Michigan Consumer Sentiment (10:00am)