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Labor market

Job openings fall in a possible sign of the elusive "soft landing"

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Apr 4, 2023
Fewer job openings in normal times might be not great news, but right now, it is — cautiously speaking — a good sign. 
Workers moving into jobs in hotels and restaurants could be a sign that the economy is rebalancing.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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How a tight labor market has made way for educators to strike

by Stephanie Hughes
Mar 22, 2023
The ongoing strike by Los Angeles educators is being fueled largely by high demand for workers.
Los Angeles Unified School District workers and supporters rally outside LAUSD headquarters on the first day of a strike over a new contract on March 21.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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What something called "supercore inflation" can tell us about the current economy

by Stephanie Hughes
Mar 15, 2023
It’s a spending category that looks at core services other than housing. The Fed says it could be key to understanding the future of inflation.
Paying for a haircut or hiring a landscaper are all purchases measured in supercore inflation. The price of these services can also be linked to the wages people are paid to do them.
Hispanolistic/Getty Images
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Pandemic-era retirements have left a gap in the labor force

by Kristin Schwab
Mar 7, 2023
About 2.2 million more people are retired than the Federal Reserve had expected.
Fear of contracting COVID-19 in their workplaces led some older adults to retire sooner than planned. Higher property values and bigger investment accounts helped others make the transition.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Can we tame inflation without hurting workers?

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Mar 7, 2023
Theoretically, yes.
One route to avoiding layoffs? "If businesses accept lower profit margins," said Wells Fargo economist Sarah House.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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Yellen: "Progress on inflation is not going to be a straight line"

by Kai Ryssdal , Andie Corban and Sarah Leeson
Mar 2, 2023
The Treasury secretary says "people don't need to lose their jobs" to cool down the labor market.
"There's a great sense of community but an enormous amount of trauma that everyone in Ukraine is experiencing," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says. Above, Yellen at a school in Kyiv earlier this week.
Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images
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Where's the sweet spot for wage growth?

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Mar 1, 2023
Economists say 3.5% wage growth is about right when you take inflation and productivity growth into account — but we're not there yet.
Right now, wage growth is at 4.4% year over year. But economists say 3.5% is the ideal figure.
Kena Betancur/Getty Images
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Workers are staging more labor actions, thanks in part to the strong job market

by Mitchell Hartman
Feb 23, 2023
The number of labor actions has increased, as has the number of workers involved.
Nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York strike outside the hospital. Labor action jumped by more than half in 2022 compared to 2021, according to recent data.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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Economic Pulse

A 118-year-old department store perseveres in a tenuous economy

by Sabri Ben-Achour and Jarrett Dang
Feb 17, 2023
How a department store more than a century old has survived two pandemics, the Great Depression, and multiple recessions.
Dunham's Department Store in Wellsboro, PA. Ann Dunham Rawson, whose great-grandparents opened Dunham's, said the store is doing well despite wider economic anxiety.
Courtesy Ann Dunham Rawson
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Big layoffs grab our attention, but plenty of hiring is happening too

by Kristin Schwab
Feb 16, 2023
The hospitality industry, for example, is on a hiring binge.
Leisure and hospitality was the leading sector for jobs growth in January, and employment in those industries is still below what it was pre-pandemic.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images
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