April 2024 Jobs Report: A Best-Case Scenario for the Fed?
The BLS estimated that the US economy added 303,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate ticking down from 3.9% to 3.8%. Below are three key takeaways from this report – and what it means for interest rates. 1. Job Growth Continues to Defy Expectations Overall nonfarm employment grew by 303,000 in March, blowing past ...
In Brief: The Recent Rise in US Labor Productivity
BRIEFLY US labor productivity has enjoyed a period of renewed growth over the past year, interrupting a nearly twenty-year decline: the 2.7 percent productivity growth in 2023 outpaces the 1.5 percent annual average since 2004, and it nearly matches the 2.9 percent pace seen during the country’s last productivity surge in the 1990s. While the ...
April 2024 Jobs Report: Steady-As-She-Goes Labor Market
The BLS estimated that the US economy added 175,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate ticking up from 3.7% to 3.9%. Three things stood out from this report. 1. Job Growth Ticks Down After Recent Strength After a string of stronger-than-expected employment gains, job growth cooled down this month. The 175,000 jobs added fell ...
April 2024 CPI Report: A Step in the Right Direction
The Consumer Price Index rose at a 3.4% annual pace in April 2024, and 3.6% for all items excluding food and energy. Three things stood out from this report. 1. Inflation softens, after stickiness to start off the year Annual inflation, as measured in the CPI, started the year near a post-COVID low of 3.1% ...
Kristin J. Forbes
KRISTIN J. FORBES is the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management and Global Economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She has regularly rotated between academia and senior policy positions. From 2014-2017 she was an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee for the Bank of England. From 2003 to 2005 Forbes served as ...
Jason Furman
JASON FURMAN is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is also nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Furman engages in public policy through research, writing and teaching in a wide range of areas ...
Keith Hennessey
KEITH HENNESSEY teaches Stanford MBA students about economic policy, American civics and the policy-making process. He also serves as the David Rubenstein Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute. He previously served as director of the National Economic Council for President George W. Bush.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
DOUG HOLTZ-EAKIN has a distinguished record as an academic, policy adviser, and strategist. Currently he is the president of the American Action Forum and most recently was a commissioner on the congressionally chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He was the 6th director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2005. Following his tenure ...
Glenn Hubbard
GLENN HUBBARD is dean emeritus of Columbia Business School. He is also the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics. Hubbard received his B.A. and B.S. degrees summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida, where he received the National Society of Professional Engineers Award. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard ...