The government shutdown just became more tangible. Several federal agencies remain unfunded, leaving 800,000 workers missing out on wages that were to be paid today. It can be difficult to form a mental image of who this affects and how, but JobsEQ makes it easy to see the direct and ripple impact this has on the economy.
The unemployment rate in the United States is at historically low levels, coming in at 3.9% for July 2018, with many observers suggesting the nation is now at full employment. Despite the low unemployment rate, some questions remain about the state of the workforce. For example, one question is “how is the employment being utilized?” Or to put it another way, just because people have jobs right now, does that mean they have good jobs? One way to measure employment utilization is to look at the underemployment rate.
A lot has already been said regarding Amazon and its search for a second headquarters (HQ2). Some argue HQ2 will bring a great benefit to the selected region, with Amazon saying they will invest over $5 billion and hire up to 50,000 employees for HQ2. Others have been more critical, arguing that the cost in the form of tax subsidies may not be worth the benefit gained. Additionally, there has been a lot of comparing the cities competing for HQ2, with front runners including Austin, Washington DC, and Denver, depending on which analysis you read.
Last year, we posted a blog examining the effects of Hurricane Harvey on job postings and, by extension, employment. Below, we take the same approach to look at the impacts of a different natural disaster prevalent in late 2017 and early this year: the wildfires in California. Specifically, we are focusing on the Tubbs Fire, which affected parts of Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties in Northern California during October 2017; and the Thomas Fire, which affected Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in Southern California in December 2017.
2017 has been a very active hurricane season. Some analysts argue Hurricane Harvey will be one of the most costly natural disasters in history[1]. As a region is preparing for a category 4 hurricane such as Harvey, businesses close down and most people evacuate. When some businesses are destroyed during the hurricane, a rise in unemployment follows.