Equity markets posted modest gains last week on strong economic news. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has continued to recover from the sell-off earlier in the year. It posted a gain of over 2%.
Jobless claims hit another pandemic low. The problem is, employers are still struggling to find workers for existing open positions. It’s a conundrum. If employers are unable to fill available positions, shortages will only get worse. Already the Commerce Department reported that orders for cars, appliances and other long-lasting durable goods fell a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in April from March.
Looking at pre-pandemic levels, U.S. employment is still down about eight million jobs. Surveys suggest many reasons the unemployed haven’t returned to work. Extra federal benefits along with state unemployment programs are just one. Fear of contracting Covid-19, schools remaining closed or only partially re-opened, and a lack of skills for available positions are some of the other reasons cited.
The chart below from ZipRecruiter highlights the challenge. The green bars show job postings. The connected black dotted line shows the labor force participation rate.
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The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System.
Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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