Article source: ConstructConnect

As my colleague, Michael Guckes, is wont to say, every economic cycle is different. The study of ‘the dismal science’ (as economics has sometimes been labeled) in school lecture halls pretends otherwise.

Students are taught that actions taken of a certain fiscal or monetary nature will surely lead to predictable specific consequences. Raising income taxes will lower consumer spending; higher interest rates will weaken housing demand; etc. It is the second of these we will concentrate on further along in this article.

Most of these ‘truisms’ retain their power. But as we are finding out every day now, they’re also

being bent and stretched and sometimes even turned inside out because never before has there been three years of worldwide pandemic, accompanied by massive government support spending and a zero interest rate regime that is being followed by intended corrective measures that may not be hitting the mark.

(more…)

Article source: ConstructConnect

So far, minimally deterred by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has stayed near rock bottom. Seasonally adjusted (SA), it’s been less than 4.0% for 15 months in a row, indicative of a labor market that’s about as tight as it has ever been.

In the 15 graphics that follow, the historical figures on employment are presented in charts and analyzed in accompanying text boxes for 30 key sectors in the economy.

There are many instances of astonishing growth in the number of jobs. There are also cases where employment has languished and can draw on few reserves of adrenaline.

In many of the graphs, deep crevices appear in the number of jobs at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. What’s interesting is the degree to which recovery has occurred.

(more…)