Labor Market Statistics blog post 1

Labor Market Statistics

Blog Post 1

Jared Mercadante

                    

              This past month, November, was relatively uneventful in terms of unemployment. The unemployment rate, which is defined as "the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed" (Mankiw, 2015), stayed at five percent, and unemployment by group did not change either. In order, unemployment was lowest with Asians (3.9%), then whites (4.3%), Hispanics (6.4%), then blacks (9.4%). Unemployment between men and woman was pretty similar (.1 percentage point), and also remained constant. Other groups, such as long-term unemployed, also remained static. In November, there was little change in unemployment. Over the course of the year (since last November), Unemployment has decreased by almost one percent. Due to having a Democratic President in office, one who likes to expand government and create more government jobs, I have to assume that the unemployment rate in 2016 will continue to decrease. I believe it will decrease most within the groups that currently have the highest unemployment rate- blacks and Hispanics. 

              Although the overall unemployment rate remained constant, independent sectors saw growth or contraction. Retail jobs increased, as did food services and health care, along with a few others. The two regions in which jobs were lost were information and mining. Mining has seen decreases for the past few months now, so  I would assume that the downward trend will continue as we move into 2016.

             Employment-population ratio was another employment statistic that remained constant for the month of November. The Bureau of Labor Statistics even reports that the employment-population ration has barely changed since October 2014. The labor force participation rate- "the percentage of the adult population that is in the labor force" (Mankiw, 2015)- also stayed at 62.5%, where it had been for the month of October. Since both of these numbers have remained fairly constant for the past year, I will have to assume that they will remain that way for the coming year.    

             The fact that all three of these statistics have stayed constant bodes well for the future. Although it means that growth is relatively limited, It also means that the economy as a whole is moderately stable Considering the fact that our national debt continues to increase to absurd levels and the political unrest due to terrorist threats and the impending arrival of thousands of Syrian refugees, I believe that our stable workforce is a bright spot in a slightly dark time.  

Works Cited

•  "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. 
•  Mankiw, N. Gregory. Principles of Macroeconomics. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western, 2015. Print.