Economics
U.S. Jobs & Labor Report: June 2022
Report summary
Despite elevated inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. jobs recovery continued in May, albeit at a slower rate, as reported in last week’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (analyzed later in this summary). Morning Consult’s proprietary jobs and labor data also showed no signs of a significant deterioration in May in the face of mounting headwinds, with job search activity and job security remaining robust.
Key Takeaways
- The number of Americans experiencing lost pay or income continues to decline as U.S. demand for labor remains strong. In the first three weeks of May, only 11% of adults reported lost pay, compared with 23% in May 2020.
- The share of employed Americans actively looking for work increased in May, potentially fueling more job switching going forward.
- The labor market remains strong, and American workers, particularly low-income workers, are feeling more secure in their jobs now than at any other point in the past two years.
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.
Lori Helwing is the Financial Markets Economist for Morning Consult, where she leads the company’s analytical and forecasting efforts for the broader economy. She brings over 20 years of experience on Wall Street and specializes in a non-traditional, bottom-up approach that quickly incorporates real-time data for more accurate near- and medium-term forecasts of economic growth. Lori’s prior roles include serving as Chief US Economist at Point72 Asset Management where she worked closely with in-house traders and portfolio managers, a US Economist position at Merrill Lynch/Bank of America generating research for institutional clients, and a Global Economic Analyst at Wellington Management working with a broad array of fixed income and equity investors.
