Clemson Economic Trends

December Jobs Report – Employment Continues to Grow

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Employment Situation for December 2022. The report shows that the labor market remains strong, despite the federal reserve rapidly raising interest rates to combat inflation during the second half of 2022. The report showed that the economy gained 223,000 new jobs in December, and the unemployment […]

November Jobs Report – Strong Labor Market and Rising Wages

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released The Employment Situation for November 2022 today. The report contains information from two surveys about the state of the labor market. The household survey reports data from households about individual employment outcomes. This survey found that the unemployment rate was unchanged in November at 3.7 percent. The report also […]

October Jobs Report – A Resilient Labor Market

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Employment Situation for October 2022. The report provides evidence that while the labor market remains strong, it is growing at a less rapid pace. Specifically, the report finds that the economy added 261,000 new jobs in October, and the unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.7 percent.  While job […]

September Jobs Report – Unemployment Remains Extremely Low

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report on the Employment Situation in September 2022. The report shows that the labor market remains strong despite the recent large hikes in interest rates undertaken by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation and slow the economy. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent, matching the […]

August Jobs Report – Workers Returning to Labor Force Increase Unemployment Rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Employment Situation for August 2022. The report found that the economy added 315,000 jobs in August, but the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.7 percent. Given the continued strength of job gains, a natural question is how the unemployment rate could continue to rise. […]

July Jobs Report – Labor Market Continues to Show Strength

This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its report on the Employment Situation for July 2022. The report showed that the labor market continues to expand rapidly despite fears that the economy is in a recession. The report found that the economy added 528,000 new jobs in July, and the unemployment rate declined […]

June Jobs Report – Labor Market Remains Robust Despite Recession Concerns

The Federal Reserve bank increased interest rates by 75 basis points in June to slow the high levels of inflation experienced in the past few months. There are concerns that this rapid tightening of monetary conditions could bring the economy into a recession. Despite these concerns, new data on the labor market released this week […]

May Jobs Report – Strong Labor Market Is Not Driving Inflation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly report on the Employment Situation for May today. The report shows that the labor market is now in a steady pattern of slow growth, with little change from previous months. The headline numbers of the report show that the economy added 390,000 new jobs, slightly higher […]

April Jobs Data Show Continued Labor Market Growth

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released two reports this week showing that the labor market continues to be extremely strong. First, on Tuesday, they released data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from March 2022. The survey showed that job openings in the economy are at an all-time high of 11.5 […]

Labor Market Continues Strong Growth in March

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the employment situation for March 2022. In March, the labor market continued to grow rapidly, adding 431,000 new jobs. In addition, revisions to the previous two months’ reports increased estimated job gains by 95,000 additional jobs. Together, the economy added 562,000 jobs per month over the last […]