Top Stat: Average hourly earnings (inflation-adjusted) down by 2.6% over last year. Link
Key Point: Total nonfarm employment down 1.2 million jobs since February 2020. Link
Overview: The economic costs of the shutdown recession from February to April 2020 and subsequent policy errors have been persistent and substantial across the nation. The U.S. labor market has been improving, but this is not a “booming economy” as weaknesses remain. This is in spite of Congress adding $6 trillion in deficit spending since January 2020 to reach the new high of $30 trillion national debt. And the Federal Reserve has monetized much of the new debt, leading to 40-year high inflation. Given rampant inflation and a stagnating economy, stagflation is here for the first time since the 1970s. Specifically, the Biden administration, Congress, and the Fed should stop overregulating, overspending, and overprinting, respectively, and instead provide pro-growth policies that support productive activity so that Americans can improve their livelihoods.