Click to enlarge.
Surely we can get this to 6% if we give it one more shot! Just throw the whole kitchen sink at it Ben! For the love of all that is holy, do not taper! We need it all!
It peaked at 5.951% in November of 2000. Good times.
It peaked at 5.950% in May of 2007. What a party.
In July of 2013, it reached 5.872%. So close! At the rate it's climbing, it's practically a "sure thing" to breach 6% by June of 2014, although a new record could be set as early as February. There's only one Christmas season left between us and the ultimate goal! With nearly 19 million jobs at stake, what could possibly go wrong (again)?
There's nothing magical about the 6% barrier of course, other than the fact that we've failed to go through it twice so far. Maybe the third time's the charm? Or maybe it isn't? Who knows?
And as for 6%, I wake up every day thinking that for every 16 humans or so that I know (including babies and the elderly), at least one needs to be a professional & business services employee (accountant, lawyer, janitor, landscaper, groundskeeper, financial manager, office clerk, security guard, and so on). That's the only way our country can truly prosper. Never mind that we only needed about 1/3rd as many 60 years ago. Those were crazy times and not at all as prosperous as what we have now.
If we don't have very nice places for lawyers to do their lawyering and for financial managers to do their managerizing, then what will become of this great country of ours!
This is not investment advice.
See Also:
BLS: Industries at a Glance: Professional and Business Services
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Professional & Business Services Employees per Capita
Why, if we lack places for more managers and lawyers, the U.S. might be a better place.
ReplyDeleteWe can't have that! You there, ZIRP the peasants back into submission!
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=lym
ReplyDeleteis real gov't spending per person age 25-54.
bet you didn't know that everyone has a $40,000+ gov't job on the side!
Prior to FRED, I did not know anything.
ReplyDeleteWith FRED, I know too much.
I believe the term "professional" originally referred to those individuals who were licensed to serve the public, i.e. doctors, lawyers, civil engineers, accountants, etc.
ReplyDeleteNow-a-days it is like a catchall term for anyone working in an office doing non-manual labor work. So, good for you Mark for sticking to the original intent.
Who Struck John,
ReplyDeleteYou there, ZIRP the peasants back into submission!
Constitutional Peasants! ;)
Troy,
ReplyDeletePrior to FRED, I did not know anything.
With FRED, I know too much.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Edward Drayton: Remember, you will only have time for just one shot. If you need another, the risk is yours.
Luke Smith,
ReplyDeleteThe world's oldest profession: "Business Services"
Tyco footed about half the bill for the party in Sardinia, which featured an ice sculpture of Michelangelo's David spewing vodka from his penis and a birthday cake in the shape of a woman's breasts with sparklers mounted on top.
Your graph has provoked a simile: it's like a child's scribbles in the sand - the tide will come in and wash it all away.
ReplyDeletedearieme,
ReplyDeleteAnd so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually. - Jimi Hendrix