Economists predict that competition for workers will fuel a long cycle of inflation and higher pay rates.
Unemployment rates and the wage-and-inflation arms race are only part of the story.
While jobs rebounded following the pandemic, people available to work remain scarce, and that’s the problem. For the third straight month, participation of prime age workers dipped, leaving jobs unfilled, especially in the fields of insurance and finance where competition for workers is expected to continue for decades.
Unemployment in the insurance sector inched from 1.1% in October to 1.5% in November. In 2021 the annual average unemployment rate was over 2%, the average in 2022 was half of that at an average 1.1%.
Insurance Carriers and Related Activities subsector |
Aug. 2022 |
Sep. 2022 |
Oct. 2022 |
Nov. 2022 |
| Unemployment rate: BLS December 2022 | 1.7% | 0.9% | 1.1% | 1.5% |
(Source: https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag524.htm)
The overall profile unemployment rate held steady at 3.7% as the economy added 263,000 jobs in November. Despite high-profile tech losses, the 45,000 job cuts were primarily in retail, warehouse, and transportation sectors.
As 2022 comes to a close, Sanford Rose Associates – Newman Group is working diligently to continue providing a competitive advantage to our clients with all that the new year holds for our industry.
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