Hicks: Jobs Report Shows Continued Slowing Recovery
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Ball State University economist says the November jobs report continues a trend of a rapidly-slowing economy. The national unemployment rate dropped to 6.7% last month, but Mike Hicks says many people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.
The U.S. added 245,000 jobs in November, which Hicks says was the slowest since the COVID recession began and reflects a struggling labor market.
“And, the topline number of jobs was the best part of the report. The labor force shrunk by 400,000 jobs, signaling an unhealthy balance between job creation and labor market participation,” said Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State. “The effects of COVID likely caused much of this reduction in the supply of labor as families struggled with healthcare issues and childcare through the worsening pandemic.”
Hicks says the data for the report were collected in early November. He says COVID-19 cases at that time were fewer than they will be next week when data is collected for the December jobs report.
Hicks adds with the latest numbers, it could take four years for employment to return to early 2020 levels and six years for permanent job losses to return to January levels.
“In 22 days, on Dec. 26, more than 345,000 Hoosiers will lose unemployment benefits as the CARES Act expires. This will be the worse one-month shock to personal income in state history and will come at what may well be the peak of the Coronavirus outbreak,” said Hicks. “If the CARES Act is not extended, we must anticipate deepening short run economic losses. If the CARES Act is not extended to state and local governments, we should expect the recession to continue to reduce economic activity through 2025.”