Recent Updates
- Thailand: Auto Registration (MAR)
- Japan: Corporate Goods Price Index, Finl Institutions Lending (Mar)
- India: Commercial Bank Survey (Feb)
- US: Wholesale Trade (Feb), Producer Prices (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record during February
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $71.1 during February...
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.