161.5 million employed (dept of Labor April 2024)UNI88 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 11:06 am What’s really happening in America’s economy (Trump and Biden spin aside)
The good
If you’re already optimistic about the economy’s current state, you’re going to feel even better by parsing through some of the latest labor market data.
Currently, there are 8.5 million job openings. That exceeds the number of pre-pandemic job openings by 1.5 million. Meanwhile, there are 6.5 million unemployed people. That means there’s more than one job per job seeker. In the decade preceding the pandemic, that ratio was 0.6 on average, signifying there were more job seekers than the number of job openings.
Americans’ average hourly earnings are 22% higher than before the pandemic, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Though wage increases have been slowing, they’re rising at a faster rate than prices.
That’s good news for consumers, since it means their income is stretching further.
The bad
Though inflation has cooled significantly from its peak in the summer of 2022, further progress toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target is looking like it’ll be a lengthy process.
...
The ugly
The biggest flashing red light in the economy right now is the level of debt people are racking up.
336 + million US population (US Census population clock)
No way the above is true (only 48% of the population working) and only 6.5 million unemployed.








