Economics
U.S. Jobs & Labor Report: November 2022
Report summary
The U.S. labor market remains tight, adding pressure on the Federal Reserve to maintain its hawkish course. Despite aggressive monetary tightening, unemployment dropped back to historic lows in September. Morning Consult data shows that employed Americans’ job search activity and openness to new positions continued to climb in October. The share of U.S. workers reporting lost pay or income is also just above series lows. While job vacancies have begun to decline, they continue to eclipse the number of unemployed workers, and Morning Consult data suggests that recent staffing issues are leading employers to retain more workers than they usually would.
Key Takeaways
- The share of U.S. adults who experienced a loss of pay or income was unchanged in in October, at 10.9%, the same as September and only 0.4 percentage points above the pandemic-era low seen in Aug. 2022.
- As of the week ending Oct. 22, 18.5% of employed adults and 20.4% of prime-age employed adults (ages 25-54) said they were applying for new roles.
- Job growth remains strong in the face of recession worries, and open positions continue to outnumber unemployed workers in the United States.
About the authors
John Leer leads Morning Consult’s global economic research, overseeing the company’s economic data collection, validation and analysis. He is an authority on the effects of consumer preferences, expectations and experiences on purchasing patterns, prices and employment.
John continues to advance scholarship in the field of economics, recently partnering with researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland to design a new approach to measuring consumers’ inflation expectations.
This novel approach, now known as the Indirect Consumer Inflation Expectations measure, leverages Morning Consult’s high-frequency survey data to capture unique insights into consumers’ expectations for future inflation.
Prior to Morning Consult, John worked for Promontory Financial Group, offering strategic solutions to financial services firms on matters including credit risk modeling and management, corporate governance, and compliance risk management.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy with honors from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in economics and management studies (MEMS) from Humboldt University in Berlin.
His analysis has been cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Washington Post, The Economist and more.
Follow him on Twitter @JohnCLeer. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]
Jesse Wheeler previously worked at Morning Consult as a senior economist.
