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What Does Everything Besides the Unemployment Rate Tell Us About Labor Market Tightness?
Between March 2022 and June 2023, the unemployment rate, the most commonly used gauge of labor market tightness, remained in a narrow range between 3.4% and 3.7%. Yet, over this period, nominal wage growth increased to unusually high levels and then moderated, though it remains at a historically high rate. The disparity between a relatively constant unemployment rate and large movements in nominal wage growth has led to a divide in public discourse, with some seeing low unemployment and strong wage growth as a sufficient sign of the strength of the labor market and others concerned that the ...
Comparing the Uses of Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the Seventh District’s Large Cities and Their Counties
In response to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. federal government enacted the landmark American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). A key component of the act was providing $350 billion in funding to state and local governments through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program. This program was designed to allow state and local governments to use the money in a fairly flexible manner to reflect how the pandemic had affected their areas’ economies. The only significant restriction was prohibiting these governments from using the funds allocated by the ...