Skip to main content

Help Wanted: Too Many Jobs and Not Enough Workers


“Signs, signs, everywhere a sign” sang the 70’s Canadian rock group Five Man Electrical Band.  The sign that is everywhere now is “Help Wanted”!  The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows there are over 100 million Americans who are currently out of the labor force.  But of that group, just 6.85 million people are currently looking for a job.  Why are less than 7% of available workers looking for a job?  

Interviews reveal the prevailing attitude: it pays darn well to not work! The trillions of dollars in government stimulus are now incentivizing potential workers not to seek gainful employment, but to sit back and collect the next “stimmy check” for not working.  The chart below, from Bank of America’s Global Research department, plots the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) “Hard to Fill” job openings category.  As can be seen, the current level of 40 is the highest in the history of the index.


Best regards, 

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.

 

WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC.
Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK  73013
California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122
Phone (405) 340-1717 - Toll Free (877) 340-1717 

 Website:  www.womackadvisers.com

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc. (WIA) is a registered investment adviser whose principal office is located in Oklahoma. Womack Investment Advisers, Inc. is also registered in the State of California, the State of Illinois, the State of Indiana, and the State of Texas. WIA only transacts business in sates where it is properly registered, or excluded, or exempted from registration requirements.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Another Tornado Record's in Sight for U.S. as Thunderstorms Boom

Bloomberg by Brian K Sullivan Another wave of tornado-spawning thunderstorms is set to rip across the Great Plains and South this week, putting the U.S. within reach of a record year for life-threatening twisters. Severe storms will drench a swath of the country from Texas to Mississippi over the next five days, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center. Through Thursday, 369 tornadoes have been reported across the country, the most in five years and more than double the normal number of sightings. An active jet stream and unusually balmy weather are to blame for the burst of deadly tornado activity, the storm prediction center said. Strong winds have dragged storms into the warm, humid air that’s blanketed the eastern half of the nation, creating conditions ripe for a weather phenomenon that leads to at least $400 million in damage a year in the U.S. “We have a severe threat starting today and continuing for each of the next five days through at least Monday

Womack Weekly Commentary: September 18, 2017

­Womack Weekly Commentary September 18, 2017 The Markets “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is.” Yogi Berra was talking about baseball, but the concept also applies to diversification, according to the GMO White Paper, The S&P 500: Just Say No . From the title, you might think the authors – Matt Kadnar and James Montier – don’t like U.S. stocks. They do: “Being a U.S. equity investor over the past several years has felt glorious. The S&P 500 has trounced the competition provided by other major developed and emerging equity markets. Over the last 7 years, the S&P is up 173 percent (15 percent annualized in nominal terms) versus MSCI EAFE (in USD terms), which is up 71 percent (8 percent annualized), and poor MSCI Emerging, which is up only 30 percent (4 percent annualized). Every dollar invested in the S&P has compounded into $2.72 versus MSCI EAFE’s $1.70 and MSCI Emerging’s $1.30.” The au

Markets Were Rattled Last Week

 The market hates surprises, especially when the surprise comes from a central bank. Last week, the European Central Bank (ECB) unexpectedly reversed course and took a more accommodative stance on monetary policy in an effort to encourage stronger European economic growth. Tom Fairless of Barron’s explained: “Officials are seeking to shore up an economy that has been rattled by shocks ranging from a slowdown in China to mass protests in France and bottlenecks in Germany’s crucial auto industry. They are threading a careful path between providing sufficient support for the region’s softening economy while avoiding any appearance of panic, which could ricochet through financial markets.” The Eurozone isn’t the only region feeling the pinch of weaker economic growth. China’s exports were down more than 20 percent in February, reported Investing.com . Analysts had expected a decline of about 5 percent. Concerns about the health of China’s economy have been growing since the p