E America’s Job Market Keeps Improving, Though Not In Terms Of Earnings

The U.S. economy has been improving on many fronts since the Great Recession ended eight years ago.

The unemployment rate is close to a full employment level based on conventional measures and payroll jobs continue to increase month after month, reversing many of the job losses from the Great Recession.

However. at the same time, wage earnings continue to be depressed.

Most economists agree that tepid wage gains in a low unemployment job market is a sign that the U.S. economy is still far from healthy. Yet, based on labor turnover data, the U.S. job market appears to be at its tightest level since the beginning of this century.

As the National Bank of Canada points out in a recent web report (Weekly Economics Watch, August 11, 2017), job openings or unfilled jobs in the U.S. rose to a record high of 6.16 million in June.

With job openings in the U.S. at an all-time peak, the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings slid even further below last recession’s level.

At the same time, nominal wage growth has never really recovered since the end of the Great Recession. Despite the low 4.3% unemployment rate in July, American employers have not had to compete with higher wages to hold or attract new workers.

In sum, the job turnover data suggest that U.S. job market is still far from healthy. This reality partly explains why the Trump political base seems to hold up as well as it does.