![]() Since the economy began recovering after the pandemic, demand for workers has far exceeded the supply. Those trends suggest that supply and demand in the job market are becoming more balanced, a key goal of the Fed’s. Coronado estimates that immigrants are adding about 50,000 workers to the labor supply each month.Īt the same time, the number of job openings dropped in May, a sign that demand for workers is gradually cooling. The proportion of Americans ages 25 through 54 - a category that filters out most students and retirees - who are working rose to 80.9% in June, above the pre-pandemic peak and the highest level in 22 years.Īnd legal immigration has rebounded after being restricted during the pandemic. Higher inflation and an uncertain economic outlook appear to be drawing more people into the workforce. Many businesses say they’re seeing increased applications and are having an easier time filling jobs. One factor that has supported the job market has been a rebound in the number of people looking for work. WHERE ARE BUSINESSES FINDING WORKERS TO HIRE? We didn’t crash, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t crash.” “What they have to do is steer us the rest of the way down. “The Fed is on track for a soft landing,” said Betsey Stevenson, an economics professor at the University of Michigan. There are so few homes available that even reduced demand for housing is spurring more construction - and more jobs. This time, the opposite has happened: Construction firms added 23,000 jobs last month, automakers 4,300. In recent months, housing has shown signs of rebounding, with sales and construction of new homes picking up.Īnd higher interest rates normally would be expected to spur job losses in construction and manufacturing. But most of that increase had occurred by last fall. To take one example: Mortgage rates have nearly doubled since the Fed began raising borrowing costs 15 months ago. Industries that are particularly sensitive to higher borrowing costs - such as housing and car sales - appear to have adjusted to the Fed’s higher rates. Several factors, though, are countering those headwinds and helping perpetuate hiring, which typically boosts consumer spending and propels the economy. ![]() The economy has been beset by high interest rates, elevated inflation and nagging worries about a possible recession resulting from the Fed’s aggressive efforts to quell price increases. “It’s a resilient labor market - not too hot, not too cool.” “This is kind of a Goldilocks report,” said Julia Coronado, president of MacroPolicy Perspectives, an economic research firm. Yet there were also signals in Friday’s government report that the job market is cooling to a more sustainable pace of growth - a trend that, if it continues, could reassure the Fed that its rate hikes are reducing inflation pressures without derailing the economy. The latest sign of economic strength makes it all but certain that the Federal Reserve will resume its interest rate hikes later this month after having ended a streak of 10 rate increases that were intended to curb high inflation. And it amounted to further evidence of an economy that has defied persistent forecasts of a recession. Yet it was still a healthy increase, enough to reduce the unemployment rate from 3.7% to 3.6%, barely above a half-century low. The pace of hiring by businesses and government agencies in June - 209,000 added jobs - was the smallest monthly gain in 2 1/2 years. WASHINGTON (AP) - Another month, another solid gain for America’s job market.
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