Friday, September 20, 2013

The Typical Retail Trade Employee's Near Miss

The following chart shows the 12-month moving average of weekly hours worked by production and nonsupervisory retail trade employees.


Click to enlarge.

This is your captain. I have good news and bad news.

First, the good news. Although it appeared to be a sure thing, I am pleased to report that we averted the disaster of hitting the median. The plane stalled just in the nick of time.

Now, the bad news. Similar to the period from 2003 to 2009, we are once again screaming towards the ground again. Please assume crash positions.

See Also:
Sarcasm Disclaimer

Source Data:
BLS: Employment

2 comments:

Troy said...

CBO's longterm budget outlook:

Nominal Wage Growth for Workers Covered by Social Security (Percent change in average nominal wages)

2014 5.1%
2015 5.8%
2016 5.8%
2017 5.3%

Good thing we've got those big raises coming later this decade, workers who can get hours will be stylin'!

Man, I'm getting the same spider-sense I was feeling ca. 2006.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Troy,

Good thing we've got those big raises coming later this decade, workers who can get hours will be stylin'!

Good thing! My numbers coincide almost exactly with their numbers. Call me an optimist if you will, but I just take the expected 10-year treasury yield and double it! It has rarely worked in the past of course, but why let that fact get me down? ;)

Man, I'm getting the same spider-sense I was feeling ca. 2006.

When it comes to long-term median hourly wage growth, I'm sensing danger cents. Sigh.