FEATURED POST
June 17, 2025
Where have all the workers gone?
Every now and then, it’s worth taking a break from rapidly changing economic developments to focus on long-term trends affecting the world of work. One long, slow change we’ve been living through for years is the evolution of labor market participation in the United States.
The unemployment rate grabs most of the attention every month as an indicator of the health of the labor market because it tells us how easy, or difficult, it is for people to find jobs.
Read more
Subscribe to Data Lab
Stay up-to-date on the latest reports and trends.
Stay up to date with Data Lab
Please complete all fields.
Filter by:
January 21, 2025
Skills in the Era of AI and Aging
Last week, I wrote about the skills opportunity uncovered by ADP research. However, within that opportunity there lies a paradox. In today’s workplace, skills are being created and retired simultaneously, at rapid rates. How can skills evolution be jumping forward and falling behind at the same time? The answer lies in two megatrends which will reshape the workforce of the future: aging demographics and rapid-fire innovation.
Read more
January 13, 2025
The skills opportunity
Job reports move markets because they’re the strongest signal economists have about the strength of the U.S. economy. But worker productivity is just as important to economic growth; it’s just harder to measure or capture.
Read more
December 16, 2024
Word of the year: Stability
The path to becoming a Merriam-Webster or Oxford word of the year differs, but the goal of each is the same: To capture society’s mood or ethos over the past 12 months. In keeping with the spirit of these annual pursuits, I’ve come up with my own word to describe the vibe of the 2024 labor market: Stability. Here’s why stability wins the word of the year for me, and why its days as an apt description of the labor market are numbered.
Read more
December 9, 2024
A labor market riddle
This week, economists will try to fit fresh inflation data into the riddle of the year-end labor market. To be successful, they’ll need to square the conflicts of the last jobs report: Strong hiring accompanied by rapid wage growth and slightly higher unemployment.
Read more
November 25, 2024
The inflation Grinch
This week marks the official kickoff of the holiday season. In any given year, about 20 percent of annual retail sales are wrapped up in the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. The National Retail Federation expects 2024 to deliver the strongest holiday shopping season on record. Consumers are projected to increase their spending by more than $25 per person to a total of $902, $16 higher than the previous record set in 2019.
Read more
November 19, 2024
Flipping the housing-labor dynamic
By most accounts, the U.S. economy is doing well. Last week, we learned that inflation is rising more slowly than it was a year ago, and consumers are continuing their brisk spending. Lurking beneath this upbeat data, however, is housing, which continues to put a squeeze on the economy.
Read more
November 11, 2024
The U.S. economy’s global partners
With the presidential election and the Federal Reserve rate cut behind us, now is a good time to turn our attention to the rest of the world.
No economy is an island. This year’s U.S. growth owes a debt of thanks in part to our global partners, who we will need to continue playing a strong ...
November 4, 2024
When the economic data is confusing, take a closer look
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that private employers had shed 28,000 jobs in October. Just days earlier, ADP data had shown that the private sector had added 233,000 jobs. It’s enough to give anyone mental whiplash. But the numbers beg an obvious question: Is the economy strengthening, or weakening?
Read more
