Recent Updates
- **EIA releases, including WPSR, are delayed by the source**
- US: New Residential Sales (May)
- Canada: Payroll Employment, Earnings, & Hours (Apr)
- Italy: Non-EU International Trade (May)
- Mexico: Economic Activity (Apr), Construction (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Italian Consumer Confidence Remains Hammered Down
Italy's consumer confidence fell month-to-month...
U.S. Current Account Deficit Deepens to Record in Q1'22
The U.S. current account deficit deepened to $291.4 billion during Q1'22...
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Declines Further in June But Remains Positive
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index fell to 12 in June...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Edged Down
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended June 18 declined by 2,000 to 229,000...
U.S. Energy Prices Reverse Earlier Gains
Retail gasoline prices surged to $5.01 per gallon (63.1% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Charles Steindel March 26, 2021
State labor markets were, in general, little-changed in February. Only 14 states reported statistically significant changes in payrolls—11 up, 3 down. The two eye-popping moves were the increases in California--141,000 (.9 percent)--and Michigan 63,500 (1.6 percent). Both reflect outsized gains in leisure and hospitality. Most states saw improvements in this sector, in numbers of instances fairly large, but those two states stood ahead of the pack. In general, unemployment rates dropped in February (Connecticut, with a rise from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, was the only state that had a large statistically significant increase). Hawaii’s unemployment rate fell more than 1 percentage point to 9.2 percent. Hawaii continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the nation; New York’s 8.9 percent was second. Unemployment rates were under 5 percent in Northern New England, the plains, and much of the Mountain West, Rocky Mountains, and Southeast, along with a number of other states. Higher unemployment rate states were in the West and Northeast.
Puerto Rican numbers were comparable to those on the mainland—little change in payrolls or unemployment.