Economic Roundup: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Recent economic indicators for both the U.S. and Ohio show a mixed bag, including the following:

The Good: The U.S. economy added 428,000 jobs in April and weekly jobless claims have dropped to their lowest level since January 1970. Manufacturing employment rose by 55,000 in April, the strongest monthly gain in nine months.

The Bad: There was a slight drop in the already-low U.S. labor force participation rate, which is currently 62.2%. Nationwide, the number of unemployed people per job opening is 0.5. Meanwhile, consumer inflation remained very high in April at 8.3% from a year ago, while producer prices at the wholesale level rose 11% over the past year.

The Ugly: U.S. labor productivity plunged 7.5% during the first quarter of 2022, marking the largest quarterly decline since 1947. (However, manufacturing productivity increased 0.7% in Q1, as output increased 5.7% and hours worked increased 5.1%.) 5/12/2022