The US economy is in good shape-Yellen
2022.11.30 11:11
The US economy is in good shape-Yellen
Budrigannews.com – Despite indications that the labor market is cooling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated on Wednesday that the U.S. economy is “healthy.”
Yellen stated at a conference organized by the New York Times that even if the rise exceeded 4%, the economy would still be in good shape.
The reopening of the hospitality, entertainment, and travel industries following the pandemic has resulted in a surge in staffing demand and exposed a labor shortage across the economy. As a result, unemployment has been below 4 percent throughout the year.
That has been largely attributable to older workers’ slow return to a workforce they left in 2020 during the COVID-19 wave of mass layoffs.
Her remarks came two days before the official November labor market report, which is anticipated to reveal a clear slowdown in hiring and an increase in joblessness.
Although ADP’s survey has struggled to maintain its reputation as a reliable proxy for the official numbers since the pandemic began, its monthly survey of job creation in the private sector suggested that hiring slowed significantly in November.
In contrast to the ADP figures, the Labor Department’s monthly survey for October revealed that vacancies were still running at a historically high level of over 10.3 million. This indicates that there are still significantly more vacancies than there are people without jobs, indicating a very tight labor market as a whole.
Given that those laid off could easily find alternative jobs, the department’s numbers suggest that the rising trend of layoffs in the tech industry had little effect on unemployment levels.
Separately, Yellen expressed concern regarding the regulators’ inability to spot and avert the impending FTX crypto exchange collapse.
Yellen stated, “We want to ensure that cryptocurrency assets provide adequate customer protection,” adding that the collapse of FTX had “surprised” her personally.
In Delaware, FTX and more than 130 of its subsidiaries have applied for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Given efforts by the Bahamas government, where FTX’s parent company is based, to assert its own jurisdiction over FTX’s assets, however, it is unclear how far that process can proceed.
