Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: April 2018 Report Edition
Earlier this morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data on the U.S. labor market during the month of April. Below are five graphs compiled by Equitable Growth staff highlighting important trends in the data.
1.
The prime employment rate held steady at 79.2 percent in April. This statistic is a good predictor of wage growth, so look to it when thinking about when wages will pick up.
2.
Looking at multiple measures of wage growth shows that it’s accelerating, but unlikely to shoot upward anytime soon.
3.
The share of the unemployed who’ve been out of work for more than 15 weeks ticked up in April, but the trend over the recovery is down. Those unemployed for 27 weeks or more were 22.8 percent of the unemployed in April 2017. They were only 20 percent of that group in April 2018.
4.
The gap between white unemployment and unemployment for workers of color remains, but the unemployment rate for Black workers hit an all-time low in April.
5.
As the economy has recovered from the Great Recession, number of workers involuntarily in part-time employment has declined. Yet the number is still a bit above pre-recession levels.
