It took 77 months for payroll employment to surpass its value as of December 2007, the month that marked the beginning of the Global Financial Recession.  Although the length and severity of the recession undoubtedly played a role in the…

U.S. labor markets are emitting distress signals.  Whereas the number of unemployed persons declined by almost 2.8 million in August, there is an increasing problem with duration.  The proportion of the unemployed who have been unemployed for 15-26 weeks spiked…

Are long-term interest rates low because of the expectation that the economic recovery will be lacklustre or are they low because the fixed income market expects inflation to remain subdued (structural disinflation resulting from an ageing planet)?  Our position that…

The basic takeaway from the July employment report is that the increase in employment was better than expected.  Less robust numbers, however, may lie ahead because of the impasse in Washington.  In the meantime, it is worthwhile to assess the…

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) for wages and salaries which increased at an annual rate of 3.83% in the first quarter rose by only 1.45% in the second quarter, a reduction that clearly reflected the impact of the stupendous increase…

Concerns regarding Social Security are likely to intensify as recent reports suggest that there will not be a rapid recovery from the record contraction in the U.S. economy.  Is this now the crisis that will cause politicians to address the…

There have been two significant birth spikes in the past 50 years which had significant results many years later.  The most recent occurred in 2007 which should positively affect postsecondary enrollment in 2025.  The first occurred in 1969 which impacted…

In 1950, there were 25 births for every person turning 80 years old.  By 2017, that number was seven.  A newly released projection entitled Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for 195 countries by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is…

Under the pretext of the pandemic and the desire to protect American jobs, the administration expanded its efforts to eliminate almost all categories of immigration.  Following up on the April executive order which suspended issuance of green cards, the most…

It is always encouraging to come across a report confirming that not everything was out of kilter prior to the Corona pandemic.  The most recent good news regards retirement savings for near-retirees (persons aged 55 to 69 years old).  As…