NPR’s Sonari Glinton asks ICS Executive Director about labor market indicators beyond the unemployment rate

Every month the U.S. Bureau of Statistics releases its Employment Situation Report. This report, commonly called the Jobs Report or the Unemployment Report, is filled with thousands of statistics. The BLS also releases several other monthly, quarterly and yearly labor market reports. Yet, it is the unemployment rate statistic that, by far, receives the most media attention.

Linda Barrington, Executive Director of the Institute for Compensation Studies, was one of a handful of economics asked by NPR to highlight 5 other indicators that help to paint a fuller labor market picture than the unemployment rate does alone. The 5 factors highlighted include wages, the long-term unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, quit rate, and the number of people who currently work part-time but want to work full-time.

Barrington discussed wages and the long-term unemployment rate as two important statistics to watch. Currently, wages are hardly increasing and the long-term unemployment rate is still high.

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