Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: February 2018 Report Edition
1.
The prime employment rate hit a new high for this expansion at 79.3 percent. However, that’s still below levels seen before the 2007-2009 Great Recession and the 2001 recession.
![](http://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/playfair.png)
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2.
After a big spike last month, the black unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in February, near it’s all-time low. But it’s still close to twice as high as the white unemployment rate.
![](http://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/playfair-4.png)
3.
Wage growth for all workers fell back to Earth in February to 2.6 percent after a jump to 2.9% in the previous report. Nominal wage growth remains tepid.
![](http://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/playfair-31.png)
4.
The share of unemployed workers unemployed for fewer than 5 weeks is now larger than the share who are long-term unemployed.
![](http://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/playfair-5.png)
5.
As growth appears to pull workers into the labor force, keep an eye on changes in unemployment due to workers re-entering the labor force or new entrants.
![](http://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/playfair-6.png)