Employment Rates
At 60.1%, the Dec. employment rate is 1 percentage point below the pre-pandemic February 2020 level. But employment rates vary from a low of 58.9% for Black adults to a high of 63.5% for Hispanic adults.
Employment rate (age 16+) by race/ethnicity, U.S.
Jan 2008 - Dec 2022
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Note: The employment rate is officially known as the “employment-population ratio.” Here it is calculated for the population 16 years and older. Data is seasonally adjusted.
While jobs have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, the share of the population age 16+ with employment remains 1 percentage point below February 2020. Several factors may be contributing to fewer people seeking employment, including lack of available and affordable child care, Americans retiring in higher than projected numbers, and an estimated 1.3 to 4.3 million Americans sidelined by Long Covid (Long Covid Estimates).1.1,2,3
Annual wage growth in December (4.5%) did not keep up with inflation (6.5%).4,5 Meanwhile, corporate profits have skyrocketed — growing from a then record-high of $2.5 trillion in Q3 2020 to $3.0 trillion in Q3 2022 — indicating that corporations have capacity to pay higher wages and draw workers in from early retirement, without contributing to inflation.6,7,8
“Inflation and the Labor Market”. Powell. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. November, 2022. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20221130a.htm
“Measuring Household Experiences during the Coronavirus Pandemic”. U.S. Census Bureau. January, 2023. https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html
“One billion days lost: How COVID-19 is hurting the US workforce”. Berdan, Charumilind, Craven, Lamb, and Singhal. McKinsey & Company. January, 2023.
“Consumer Price Index”. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/#:~:text=News%20Releases,-CPI%20for%20all&text=In%20December%2C%20the%20Consumer%20Price,over%20the%20year%20(NSA).
“Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private”. FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003
“Corporate Profits with Inventory Valuation Adjustment (IVA) and Capital Consumption Adjustment (CCAdj)”. FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPROFIT
“National income: Corporate profits before tax (without IVA and CCAdj)”. FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A053RC1Q027SBEA
“Concentrated Power, Concentrated Harm”. Brumfield, Tesfaselassie, Geary, and Aneja. Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality. March, 2022. https://www.georgetownpoverty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ConcentratedPowerConcentratedHarm-March2022.pdf
