Labor Market Information

Yesterday, I ‘attended’ a Webinar on the Labor Market (and its Short Term Outlook).  It was presented by The Conference Board (see https://conference-board.org/us/).  While there were three presenters, the main information was provided by Gad Levanon (see https://www.linkedin.com/in/gad-levanon-3b9b933/).  A few interesting pieces of information:

• The current (relatively) high unemployment rate:  heavily driven by temporary layoffs.
• The ‘Goods’ economy is doing very well; the ‘Services’ economy is suffering.
• Why is it difficult to find good people right now?
  • Many unemployed people believe that their old job is waiting for them (they are on a temporary layoff).
  • People fear getting COVID at work - so they stay home/collect benefits.
  • Previously working parents are finding they need to be at home being a teacher.  These parents, if they are working, are considering leaving their jobs. 
• Retirements are up (creating more demand) - COVID is the reason. 
• AND - you are still seeing people proactively quit jobs because they believe they can quickly find another position.  (This was previously considered a sign of a very strong job market . . . . . . it is still happening.) 

Simply interesting information!