The wages and the hours

The results from the household survey, coming from the first four lines at this link, showed that the Inland Empire’s unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) stood at 5.1% in December 2021, down from 8.7% a year earlier. That is good news. The only worrying sign from the household statistics was a slowdown in labor force growth, clocking in at about 1.1% year-over-year. That’s still a positive rate, but lower than what we saw in November.

Turning back to the establishment survey, both weekly hours and average hourly earnings (not seasonally adjusted, private sector only) increased in December. Weekly hours worked indicate the demand for labor. If workers are clocking in for longer at work, that means employers need them to meet increasing consumer demands for their products and services. Weekly hours increased slightly in December, year-over-year, from 35.3 to 35.6 hours per week. While a small change, we wouldn’t expect much from this statistic anyway given historical trends. And more importantly, hours worked are still higher today than they were even back in 2019, when the unemployment rate was bobbing around 4%. That’s a sign of a healthy labor market.

Average hourly earnings also continued to rise. I think the chart above shows this best. The rate of increase in average hourly earnings has picked up over the last year or so. In December 2021, average hourly earnings (again, private sector only) stood at $29.09, compared to $26.96 in December 2020. That’s a 7.9% raise for the region’s workers over a single year. Wages have risen 17% since December 2019, just prior to the pandemic.