The first Friday of each month the economic geek in me watches for the phone alert on new job growth. I didn’t do well in high school economics and thankfully I didn’t have to take it in college. However, I recall enough to know that job growth, or lack thereof, can trigger responses from Wall Street and is sure to generate a tweet or two.
Recent numbers continue to show that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits is at the lowest level since I graduated from college (four decades!) More jobs are being added. Wages, even in Indiana, are slowly creeping up. We watch, waiting for comments about what is “full employment” and have people quit looking? Seasonal fluctuations are evident. What can I make of all of the numbers?
The first Friday in October brought additional numbers in light that this is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities is up one percentage point over the same month last year. This is the percentage of population working or actively looking for work. Good news…right? The thing is that participation rate is 34.1% compared to 76.6% for people without a disability. It may not be great, but it is moving in the right direction and it has been a positive trend since early 2016.