Job growth was particularly strong last month among health care companies, restaurants and bars and a broad category that includes managers, administrators and technical support workers.
Last month, the proportion of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one — the so-called labor force participation rate — was unchanged at 62.6%. The Fed would like to see labor participation grow: More people in the job market would likely put downward pressure on pay growth and help contain inflation.“Wage pressures on inflation are proving persistent,’’ Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote in a research note.
Even consumers, who drive about 70% of economic activity and who have been spending healthily since the pandemic recession ended three years ago, are showing signs of exhaustion: Retail sales fell in February and March after having begun the year with a bang. The Fed’s rate hikes are hardly the economy’s only headwind. Congressional Republicans are threatening to let the federal government default on its debt, by refusing to raise the limit on what it can borrow, if Democrats don’t accept sharp cuts in federal spending. A first-ever default on the federal debt would shatter the market for U.S. Treasurys — the world’s biggest — and possibly cause a global financial crisis.
Pinnacol Assurance, a workers’ compensation insurance firm in Denver, has hired 100 people over the past year and now has a staff of about 700. Some of the newcomers to Pinnacol had been laid off by technology companies. His nonprofit, which helps child abuse victims, recently lost two employees, including a therapist who took a higher-paying job in private practice.
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