Economy articles
What goes into the monthly jobs report?
The latest edition of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's (BLS) monthly jobs report, released August 1, 2025, reported “little change” in jobs numbers since April. Citing the report, President Trump directed his team to fire the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer.What does the jobs report show?The August update showed 73,000 jobs added in July.The report also customarily revises recent months' data as the agency receives more information from businesses. In August, the BLS revised May jobs numbers from 144,000 to 19,000 and June from 147,000 to 14,000.
What is a recession?
People feel anxious about the economy for a range of reasons, including times when their wages aren’t rising or their costs are increasing. And then there’s the r-word: recession. Some people use informal measures to say the economy is in a recession: when gross domestic product (GDP), or the economy’s output, declines for two fiscal quarters in a row. But while these things tend to go hand in hand, that’s not an official designation.What is a recession?There is only one official way to call a recession. That’s up to a committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private, nonprofit research organization. The committee considers a wide range of economy-wide, monthly data points, but the NBER views GDP as “the single best measure.” The committee calls a recession once there is a significant decline across these measures for more than a few months. The NBER’s official designation of a recession, then, doesn’t happen until there is several months of data, allowing it to be sure both that a recession happened and when exactly it started. In other words, the NBER looks backward, not at the present moment.What have recessions looked like in the past?The US has gone through 34 recessions since 1855. Thirteen of them happened after World War II.
Who doesn’t pay federal income taxes?
In 2022, 31.4% of tax filers paid no federal individual income tax. If deductions and credits reduce a filer’s taxable income to $0, they don’t have to pay federal income tax.
What are the fastest-growing professions in America?
Renewable energy production will drive much American job growth over the next decade: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), wind turbine service technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, and nurse practitioner roles are expected to have the highest rate of growth by 2034. Wind energy is an ever-larger component of US renewable energy production, and the number of wind turbine service technician jobs is projected to increase more than any other occupation, 50% by 2034. Turbine techs earned a median salary of $62,580 in 2024.
Is there a labor shortage in the US?
A job market with a labor shortage has more jobs than people to fill them. In other words, an industry or economy may be considered short on labor if there are more job openings than there are unemployed people. While labor shortages present challenges for employers, they also tend to correspond with periods of low unemployment.Is there currently a labor shortage in the US?Job openings outnumbered unemployed people in the US from May 2021 to December 2023, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. In December 2023, there were 0.7 unemployed people per job opening.
Food prices are up as millions of Americans are unemployed
At a time of record unemployment, Americans are paying more for food at the grocery store. In April, national prices for household food items rose 2.6% over March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).This 2.6% change in food is a seasonally adjusted average for a category called the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI) calls “Food at Home.” It’s an overall measure for price fluctuations for items like milk and bread. This increase is in the midst of when people must cook at home and can’t as easily opt for restaurants due to state-mandated closures due to COVID-19.The average price of goods overall declined 0.8%, but clearly not all categories experienced that decline.
How much money does the government collect per person?
The US collected $5.03 trillion in federal revenues in 2022, up $630 billion from the previous year, after adjusting for inflation.That equates to $15,098 collected per person, up 14% from 2021. Most revenues came from individual income tax, at $7,898 per person on average, and payroll taxes, at $4,510 per person on average.Using data from the State of the Union in Numbers, this chart visualizes how revenues have grown over the past two years.
Which countries own the most US debt?
The US government owes trillions of dollars in debt to foreign entities, including governments, central banks, companies, and individual investors.This debt includes US Treasury bonds and other securities, which are popular as they are considered safe investments.Many nations buy US Treasury securities (also called “Treasurys”) because they are considered one of the safest investment options available.How much US debt do foreign countries own?As of April 2024, foreign countries own approximately $7.9 trillion in Treasurys — or 22.9% of total US debt. Over the past two decades, central banks and other government entities have owned more than 50% of foreign-owned debt. Independent investors and companies held the rest.