New Website | Poor Jobs Report

New Website: We are always up to something—looking for ways to boost our services and develop our professional savvy. This time, we upgraded our website. Now clients have better access to our resources, and future clients can more easily find us and understand how we can improve their financial affairs.

Check out our new website!

Clunky but Promising: The economy continues to open, though not quite in an evenly distributed manner. Examples are rife, but to start with one: Last week, it was reported 266,000 jobs were added to the US economy in April, while unemployment rose to 6.1%. With stimulus checks out, vaccination rates up, states loosening restrictions, and perhaps the touch of pleasant weather, consumer demand has surged broadly. However, businesses have been scrambling to hire workers to meet the long-delayed demand, yet labor shortage varies from state to state. People have begun to travel across state lines to find new employment.

Disappointing Jobs Report: Friday saw a rather dismal jobs report. Non-farm payrolls were up only 266,000 vs the 1,000,000 expected for April. Notably, the March figure was revised down from 916,000 to 770,000. This news ran counter to economists’ expectations, who had anticipated large figures with mobility continuing to be on the rise. Big picture, we’re still eight million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels. No doubt we’ve come a long way, but a full recovery may be tougher than we hoped. The April unemployment rate now stands at 6.1%.

TIM-BER! Another notable instance of the sudden supply-demand disequilibrium can be found in the pent-up demand for housing. The cost of constructing a new single-family home is up 8% because of the extremely strong demand for lumber. In 2020, lumber mills were closed for upwards of four months, creating yet another instance of significant lag in supply chains and further exacerbating the upward price pressure.

Adopt a Gargoyle: Remember the fire that wrecked the Cathedral of Notre Dame back in 2019? People around the world have been invited to “adopt” the Cathedral’s gargoyles, statues, and paintings—whether for its restoration or a new one altogether. The government of France was the previous owner and steward of the cathedral and its works, but the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris have taken up the challenge to restore Notre Dame to its former medieval glory. Granted, gargoyles may not be the cutest of pets, but at least they are low-maintenance.