Friday Fact Pack! Big payroll gains

By Hightower Las Vegas and RCG Economics on June 3, 2022

As recession fears swirl, nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 390,000 in May, and the headline unemployment rate held at 3.6 percent, even as the U-6 rate, which includes discouraged workers and part-timers who would rather be working full-time edged higher to 7.1 percent.

The leisure and hospitality sector led gains (84,000), along with warehousing and transportation (47,000) and construction (36,000). Employment remains 440,000 jobs below pre-pandemic times, though, and retail trade took a hit, losing 61,000 jobs in May.

The Labor Department  reported Thursday  that initial jobless claims decreased by 11,000  week-over-week to 200,000 last week, remaining near historic lows.

This job openings graph from the Wall Street Journal’s Daily Shot brief shows there are lots of opportunities:

Nevada Jobs

A new analysis  looking at employment growth in the U.S. found that Nevada saw a 9.1 percent increase, ranking it first out of all states compared to last March. California was runner up with 6.4 percent growth.

Source: Filterbuy.com based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

It’s not surprising, then, that the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise metropolitan statistical area (MSA) saw the most job growth of any metro, as follows:

Percentage change in employment since 2021: +12.6 percent
Total change in employment since 2021: +116,600
Percentage change in employment since 2020: +0.1 percent
Current headline unemployment rate: 5.4 percent

Filterbuy’s list of top 10 metros for job growth compared to last year shows Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford in second place and Austin-Round Rock in third:

Click here for a summary of the Filterbuy.com analysis.

RCG Economics’ latest Stat Pack graphs for Southern Nevada include this one, showing that construction jobs are at a 10-year high as of April:

Even the weighted price of a Southern Nevada home has risen to more than $425,000:

Also from the Stat Pack data set, taxable sales in Southern Nevada have risen quickly:

Northern Nevada

This Stat Pack graph shows the median home price in the Reno-Sparks region is fast heading toward $600,000:

Reno-Sparks is running out of commercial space:

RuhRoh

Yes, we’re unapologetically channeling Scooby Doo as we absorb the home price and wages situation:

Gas Prices

Nevada’s average fuel price ($5.41) is quite a bit higher than the national average ($4.76) per the latest AAA data:

Trend graph, also from AAA:

Nevada prices (in red) compared to our neighbors to the west (in blue):

How Many Days Does It Take to Spend Your Paycheck?

CouponBirds.com asked 3,012 workers across the country to figure out how many days after payday they run out of money. Nevada came up as one of the worst states (nine days) along with New Mexico (eight days) and Iowa, Alabama, and Georgia (nine days):

Growth in Economic Output by Generation

Fascinating stuff, thanks to the Washington Post, via a tweet by Liz Ann Sonders at Charles Schwab & Co.:

Our Shrinking Middle Class

An April Gallup survey found that just 52 percent of Americans think of themselves as middle class (38 percent) or upper middle class (14 percent):

The Future of Social Security & Medicare

This week, the Social Security  and  Medicare  Trustees released their annual reports. Findings:

In and after 2022, Social Security is projected to spend more than it takes in — and by 2035, the combined Social Security Trust Funds will be depleted.
Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will run dry even sooner (in 2028).

If Congress doesn’t act, SS benefits will be cut starting in 2035. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation created a graph to show the difference:

Part of what is driving the problem is the growth of the nation’s senior population at the same time fewer and fewer workers are paying into the two programs:

Global Forecast

You’ll want to click here to see the larger version of this Visual Capitalist infomap showing the IMFs GDP predictions for 2022 and 2023:

Note that the U.S. and Canada look pretty good (3.7 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively), though not as good as India (8.2 percent) or Saudi Arabia (7.6 percent).

Planet Earth Has Problems But At Least It’s Not Raining Lava

This 4,400-degree planet is covered in liquid magma and is about to be cheerfully studied, thanks to the wonders of the James Webb Telescope:

 Image via NASA

On the Horizon

Mike PeQueen: The only thing that seems to matter these days is the inflation rate, so next Friday’s consumer price index will be the number to watch. Last month, the year-over-year number came in at 8.3 percent. Something lower than that would be very well received.

Click here to view next week’s MarketWatch calendar.

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