So Much Economic Data!
A recap of the news you should know
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Summary
So much economic news to cover since our last labor market update. To help you stay up to date, we have provided a quick summary of things you need to know. As usually, I provide you with a takeaway at the end.
The Fed met this week and decided to keep interest rates steady keeping the federal funds rate Target at 5.25%-5.5%
GDP grew at annualized 4.9% percent in the third quarter of 2023. This is a high growth rate. Most of growth is propped by consumer spending. More on that later…
Job openings are up to 9.6 million. Still lots of demand for labor and another sign of a strong labor market. Jobless claims increased by 217,000. In October the economy created 150,000 new jobs, and the unemployment ticked up to 3.9%.
U.S. productivity jumps in third-quarter at fastest rate in three years
Some bad news, the savings rate in the U.S fell to 3.4%. Consumers continue to spend their savings down and starting to leverage more credit.
Credit card debt hit $1 Trillion in Q3.
The Takeaway
The U.S Economy is being propped by consumer spending. Higher interest rates are increasing the cost of borrowing and reducing the incentive to spend cash. I am not sure how much longer the U.S consumer can keep this up for.
I did an interview with Cassy Arsenault. Read her thread here and watch the interview on Channel WKRC Local 12 here. She did a great job summarizing the state of the economy.
Dr A,
I have another take on all of the data in the world today, and not just the data that the U.S. government is collecting and publishing. Private companies like banks, manufacturing sites, and even public entities like local and civic governments are also awash in data – and this is great news for economics majors because they are perhaps in the best position to benefit because they have the best tools and training for analysis. The training that economics majors get from the conceptual like cost-benefit to the practical like econometric methods is the best possible training they could get to prepare them for meaningful jobs after they graduate. So, it seems as if it's a great time to be an economics major.