The Federal Reserve has wanted cooling inflation coupled with steady employment. It’s gotten that.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the most growth in health care and technology occupations over the next 10 years. But the projections aren’t iron-clad.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reduced its initial count of new jobs between March 2023 and March 2024 by more than 800,000.

November job openings also trended down but were still above pre-pandemic levels.

Experts are predicting a slight decrease in wage growth, a drop that get us closer to pre-pandemic rates.

States that weren’t hit as hard by the pandemic slowdown have already mostly recovered.

That sector now employs more than 200,000 more people than it did before the pandemic.

Black workers were the only racial or ethnic group for whom unemployment rose in the most recent monthly data — to nearly 9%.

The pandemic’s still weighing down the economy, despite some encouraging signs.

“There’s not really one story that explains the entire labor market,” Chris Hyams says.