Recent Updates
- China: International Trade (Mar)
- China: GDP (Q1)
- Euro area: CSPP Holdings Detail (Q1)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Fell Back in February, but Still in Recent Range
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index decreased 7.6% (-1.4% y/y) in February to 173.1...
European New Car Registrations Remarkably Strong Yet Forgettable
Car registrations are not going to be the only statistic that bears these dual and seemingly dueling characteristics...
U.S. Retail Sales Soar in March
Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments increased 9.8% (27.7% y/y) during March...
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounded in March
Industrial production rebounded in March, rising 1.4% m/m (+1.0% y/y)...
U.S. Home Builder Index Edges Higher in April
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.2% to 83 during April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Charles Steindel May 17, 2019
State payrolls were, like the national figure, generally strong in April. Ten states had statistically significant gains, led in absolute numbers by California (46,000) and in percentage terms by Rhode Island (.8%) . A handful of states did report point declines; Georgia, with a somewhat startling drop of 14,900 (.3 percent) was the only one that was statistically significant. Over the last 12 months the story of good growth over most of the nation, with some tilt toward the West, continues. Nevada and Utah were the states with job growth of 3 percent or higher. Florida was the one state in the eastern half of the nation with job growth ab0ve 2.0 percent in this period. All states, and DC, report more jobs in April 2019 than in April 2018.
Unemployment rates continue to converge, at low levels, across the nation. Alaska remains the one noticeable outlier on the high side, at 6.5% (DC is at 5.6%--while DC is not, of course, a state, its labor market is a bit bigger than Alaska’s). New Mexico, was at 5.0%. West Virginia edged down to 4.9%--its first time under 5 percent since November 2008. Mississippi and Arizona were also at 4.9%. Vermont has the lowest unemployment rate—an incredible 2.2% (according to the seasonally adjusted count, that’s 7,565 people, There may not be more cows than people in Vermont, but they surely outnumber the state’s unemployed). North Dakota’s rate was 2.3%. Every other state had a rate between 2.4% and 4.7%.