Introducing

Charles Steindel

Charles Steindel has been editor of Business Economics, the journal of the National Association for Business Economics, since 2016. From 2014 to 2021 he was Resident Scholar at the Anisfield School of Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey. From 2010 to 2014 he was the first Chief Economist of the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, with responsibilities for economic and revenue projections and analysis of state economic policy. He came to the Treasury after a long career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he played a major role in forecasting and policy advice and rose to the rank of Senior Vice-President. He has served in leadership positions in a number of professional organizations. In 2011 he received the William F. Butler Award from the New York Association for Business Economics, is a fellow of NABE and of the Money Marketeers of New York University, and has received several awards for articles published in Business Economics. In 2017 he delivered Ramapo College's Sebastian J. Raciti Memorial Lecture. He is a member of the panel for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters and of the Committee on Research in Income and Wealth. He has published papers in a range of areas, and is the author of Economic Indicators for Professionals: Putting the Statistics into Perspective. He received his bachelor's degree from Emory University, his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a National Association for Business Economics Certified Business EconomistTM.

Publications by Charles Steindel

• USA| Jun 17 2022

  State Labor Markets in May 2022

  State payrolls were not as strong in May as in recent months. Only 7 states had statistically significant increases, while 3 report declines. Texas had the largest gain (74,200) while West Virginia jobs rose 1.3 percent. On the other side, Alaska shed 4,400 jo15 bs (1.4 percent), Wyoming lost 2,800 (1.0 percent) and Michigan payrolls fell 14,600. Over the last year, Alaska and Wyoming were the only localities that did not show statistically significant job growth (Alaska's point estimate edged down). Both California and Texas had job growth exceeding three-quarters of a million in that period, and Nevada had a 7.1 percent increase. Aside from Alaska and Wyoming, Wisconsin was the only state with job growth under 2 percent.

  16 states saw statistically significant drops in their unemployment rate in their unemployment rates in May, with a number (California, Iowa, Missouri, and Rhode Island) reporting declines of .3 percentage points. The range of unemployment rates across the nation continues to narrow. Nebraska continues to have a 1.9 percent rate; the highs continue to be DC (5.7 percent) and New Mexico (5.1 percent), but in both cases May's number was lower than April's.

  Puerto Rico's recovery is ongoing, with a small (likely statistically insignificant) increase in payrolls, and the unemployment rate moving down to 6.2 percent.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| May 25 2022

  State Coincident Indexes in April 2022

  The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes in April were again almost uniformly strong, with every state seeing gains over the one-, three-, and twelve-month horizons. Over the three months since January Maryland's index rose more than 4 percent, and only 4 had growth less than 1 percent (Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, and Mississippi). The independently estimated national figure of 1.1 percent growth over this period was, yet again inconsistent with the state numbers.

  Over the last 12 months 6 states registered gains higher than 10 percent, led by West Virginia's 14.3 percent. Yet again, New York and California were in this group, and the 5.7 percent national figure was not representative of the individual state outcomes.

  Maryland's 1.5 percent gain was the highest between March and April, and 5 other states saw increases above 1 percent. On the other side, 7 had gains less than .25 percent.

  Nearly all the states set new record highs in April. However, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Michigan (the latter just barely) have yet to match their pre-pandemic highs.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| May 20 2022

  State Labor Markets in April 2022

  State payrolls were positive in April, with gains comparable to those in March. 11 states saw statistically significant increases from March, with New Hampshire’s 1.0 percent gain the largest. In absolute numbers Texas’s 62,800 increase was the largest. As was the case in the initial March estimates, over the last 12 months 49 states and the District Columbia had statistically significant increases in payroll employment. Delaware was the odd-man out, even though the April 2022 point estimate was more than 1 percent higher than the April 2021 figure). Aside from Delaware, Alabama, Kansas, and Wisconsin were the only states with gains less than 2 percent over that period. Nevada has seen an 8 percent rise, and the aggregate job increase in California was 925,000.

  13 states and DC saw statistically significant drops in their unemployment rate in their unemployment rates in April, with Maryland’s .4 percentage point decline being the largest. The range of unemployment rates across the nation is no longer pronounced. Nebraska and Utah both have 1.9 percent rates; the highs are DC’s 5.8 and New Mexico’s 5.3.

  Puerto Rico had another solid month, with a 4,700 gain in jobs and the unemployment rate ticking down to 6.4 percent.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| Mar 31 2022

  State Coincident Indexes in February

  State real GDP growth continued to be in a wide range in 2021:Q4. Nine states grew at rates equal to or exceeding 8 percent, led by Texas's 10.1 percent. However, 3 states (North Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa) registered declines in output. Again, as was the case in the third quarter, marked declines in agriculture held down the Plains states. Sharp gains in accommodations and food services contributed markedly to growth in Hawaii and Nevada, and a few other states, none of which stand out immediately as major travel destinations (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, and New Mexico). New York, which has had difficulties reviving tourism, saw that sector decline in the fourth quarter.

  The broad contours of growth in the fourth quarter were comparable to those for 2021 as a whole. In general—though there are some exceptions on both sides—state in the middle of the nation (the Middle West, Plains, and South Central) have been growing more slowly than those to the East and West. The Western states have been (again generally) the fastest growing, the South Atlantic is nearly as fast. The Northeast is mixed, with some states noticeably stronger than others (New York is a notable laggard).

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| Mar 23 2022

  State Personal Income in Q4 2021

  Personal incomes growth varied widely across the states in 2021:Q4, in large part reflecting great differences in the growth of transfer payments, in turn owing to varying effects of the wind-down of pandemic-related federal unemployment insurance benefits. In addition, the growth of net earnings (employee wages and benefits plus proprietors' income) also differed quite substantially. Texas reported the fastest income growth rate: 9.2 percent, compared to the national figure of 2.4 percent. Texas benefited from rapid growth of net earnings (13.4 percent, at an annual rate, which was tops in the nation) and relatively little deterioration of transfers (-3.6 percent, compared to the national -17.5 percent rate of decline). In very sharp contrast, personal income fell as an 8.7 percent rate in North Dakota, as net earnings plunged at a 15.2 percent rate (transfers rose at a 4.6 percent rate in North Dakota). Developments were similar in other Plains States—declines or weak growth in earnings, with farm incomes down substantially, held down overall personal income, while the rate of decline for transfers was less that elsewhere (in some states other than North Dakota, transfers rose). In Texas's Southwest region transfers were relatively strong (or relatively less weak) and net earnings were strong. In the Far West and New England earnings were strong and transfers were weak. Looking more granularly at income generation, once again the recovery in travel led to enormous increases in income generated in leisure and hospitality in Nevada and Hawaii, but in both states large drops in transfer payments meant that overall personal income growth was relatively unimpressive.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| Mar 14 2022

  State Labor Markets in January 2022

  State payroll were generally modestly changed in January. Only 9 states reported statistically significant increases from December; the rest did not statistically significant moves of any size (the sum of the state increases was only 340,000, compared to the 481,000 increase reported in the national survey). California (53,600), New York (36,800), Pennsylvania (20,000), Georgia (19,400), and Ohio (18,600) had the largest increases, while Kansas and Maine had boosts of .6 percent.

  Virtually all states saw job growth over the last 12 months. California picked up well over 1 million jobs; Nevada saw a 10.3 percent increase. Job gains were most notable from Texas west and in parts of the Northeast as well as Michigan and Florida; job growth was soft in the Plains.

  19 states saw statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates in January (none larger than .3 percentage point), while Connecticut and DC saw increases of .2 percentage point. The range of unemployment across the nation has narrowed, in part reflecting revisions to recent numbers announced on March 2 (for instance, New Jersey's unemployment rate was reduced about 1 percentage point). Aside from DC's 6.3 percent, the highest rate in January was New Mexico's 5.9 percent, and Nebraska and Utah's 2.2 percent were the lowest. 10 states set new unemployment record lows.

  Puerto Rico's unemployment rate fell from 7.5 percent in December to 7.1 percent in January, setting another new record low. The island's job count grew 7,600, and is now higher than its pre-Maria level, though still more than 150,000 under its 2005 peak. Gains over the past year have been most evident in retailing and leisure and hospitality, perhaps reflecting revived tourism.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• USA| Dec 23 2021

  State GDP in 2021:Q3

  Estimates of state real GDP growth varied fairly substantially in 2021:Q3. 13 states saw outright declines; these were mainly commodity (energy and agriculture) intensive ones, but oddly New Hampshire—pretty far from either camp—was the weakest state in the nation, with a 3.3% rate of decline (the Granite State had a massive collapse in government output).

  In general, states bordering salt water were stronger than the nation, though that should be taken as more of a curiosity than something of analytical value (aside from New Hampshire, Alaska and Louisiana had negative growth rate). Hawaii's 6.0% rate of growth was the highest in the nation, Delaware was second at 4.7%, DC's figure was 3.9%, and Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Florida all had 3.7% growth rates. By industry, commodity production was generally weak, as was construction, manufacturing, and trade (wholesale and retail). Other sectors generally rose (New Hampshire's strange government decline was almost unique, North Dakota and North Carolina were the only other states not to see increases in government output, and the drops there were much smaller.

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• Global| Jun 29 2021

  State Coincident Indexes in May

  The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes in May showed increased divergence in the pace of recovery across the nation. In the three months ending in May two states (Alaska and Wyoming) registered declines, [...]

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• Global| Jun 25 2021

  State GDP in 2021:Q1

  Real GDP growth by state in Q1 was fairly uniform in the first quarter. 46 states are estimated to have had annual real growth rates between 4.3 and 7.9 percent. Four were stronger: Nevada, whose 10.9 percent was the leader, Utah, New [...]

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• Global| Jun 23 2021

  State Labor Markets Modestly Firmer in May

  State job growth picked up somewhat in May following the lackluster April numbers. BLS reports that 14 states saw statistically significant increases in payroll employment. The gains were somewhat concentrated, in that California saw [...]

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• Global| Jun 22 2021

  State Personal Income in Q1 2021

  State personal incomes grew at spectacular rates in 2021:Q1, reflecting the disbursement of Federal transfers. Unsurprisingly, aggregate growth rates were strongest in poor states, where flat dollar transfers made a larger different: [...]

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints
• Global| May 26 2021

  State Coincident Indexes in April

  The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes in April show widespread dispersion of activity. In the three months ending in April the indexes for 49 states increased (Delaware again inched down). 15 states, [...]

  by:Charles Steindel

  |in:Viewpoints