The Labor Market Distributions Spider Chart is designed to allow monitoring of broad labor market developments by comparing current conditions to those in up to two earlier time periods that the user selects. Distributions of the labor market variables are constructed over a time period that the user also selects, with the inner and outer rings representing the minimum and maximum values of each of the variables.

The three dashed gray rings in the chart represent the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of the distributions, respectively. Indicators of labor market status are broken up into five groups: Employer Behavior, Confidence/Perceptions, Utilization, Wages, and Flows.

Data in the chart are updated twice monthly: once for the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report, and again for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) update.

Eurodollars are term deposits denominated in U.S. dollars, but they are held in foreign banks or in the foreign branches of U.S. banks. U.S. dollar LIBOR is the key benchmark rate for the Eurodollar market. It is the average interest a bank would have to pay to borrow Eurodollar deposits.

Home ownership affordability declined for the fifth consecutive month as home prices reached a new record. Among all U.S. metros, 23 percent were unaffordable based on the Atlanta Fed’s HOAM index, up from 16 percent a year ago. Markets that tend to attract new residents from higher-cost regions continued to post the sharpest year-over-year declines in affordability. Eroding affordability is starting to slow home sales in many markets.

The views expressed in Economy Matters are not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve System.

Editor's note: Throughout Economy Matters, "Southeast" refers to the six states that, in whole or in part, make up the Sixth Federal Reserve District: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

CHQ Assembly is the digital expression of Chautauqua Institution — a nonprofit organization that exists to explore the best in human values and the enrichment of life. This exploration takes place in an interdisciplinary and intergenerational way that is characterized by a unique commitment to upholding the dignity and contributions of all people. We invite you to join us in exploring critical issues of the day through a range of experiences — lectures, artistic experiences, master and enrichment courses, and conversations — that combine to call you to your best self for a better world.

The growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) is a key indicator of economic activity, but the official estimate is released with a delay. Our GDPNow forecasting model provides a "nowcast" of the official estimate prior to its release by estimating GDP growth using a methodology similar to the one used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

GDPNow is not an official forecast of the Atlanta Fed. Rather, it is best viewed as a running estimate of real GDP growth based on available economic data for the current measured quarter. There are no subjective adjustments made to GDPNow—the estimate is based solely on the mathematical results of the model. In particular, it does not capture the impact of COVID-19 and social mobility beyond their impact on GDP source data and relevant economic reports that have already been released. It does not anticipate their impact on forthcoming economic reports beyond the standard internal...

The Labor Market Distributions Spider Chart is designed to allow monitoring of broad labor market developments by comparing current conditions to those in up to two earlier time periods that the user selects. Distributions of the labor market variables are constructed over a time period that the user also selects, with the inner and outer rings representing the minimum and maximum values of each of the variables.

The three dashed gray rings in the chart represent the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of the distributions, respectively. Indicators of labor market status are broken up into five groups: Employer Behavior, Confidence/Perceptions, Utilization, Wages, and Flows.

Data in the chart are updated twice monthly: once for the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report, and again for the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) update.

Q: Unemployment was 3.5 percent in February 2020, before the effect of COVID-19 substantially affected the data. How many jobs would have to be added each month, on average, over the next 12 months for the country to be at that number once again?

By default, the CES/CPS employment ratio is assumed to maintain its previous 12 month average. See the FAQ document for an explanation of how this ratio figures into the Jobs Calculator projection of Payroll Employment growth.

July 13, 2021 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET | 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. CT Virtual video event presented by all 12 District Banks of the Federal Reserve System

Businesses with no employees other than the owner often turned to personal funds in response to financial challenges during the pandemic. These nonemployers were less likely than employer firms to seek pandemic-related emergency funding and less likely to be approved.

Housing plays a critical role in the U.S. economy. For individuals, owning a home may be their most valuable asset. Home ownership helps meet the basic need of shelter and can support economic mobility (through wealth accumulation) and resilience (stability). However, rising home prices and rents have also led to concerns about housing affordability.

Several tools have been developed to provide insight into the extent of the affordable housing challenge. The Atlanta Fed's Southeastern Rental Affordability Tracker provides a point-in-time assessment of the number of households by income category and available rental units by price point to estimate the number and share of cost-burdened renter households and available and affordable units. Other tools show measures of housing affordability over time.* No tool is all-encompassing; there is always a trade-off between the level of detail (both the comprehensiveness of data and its granularity) provided and the frequency of...

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell will host a town hall with educators and students on August 17, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. During the event, Chair Powell will respond to questions asked by participants who will join the event virtually from across the country.

The event will be broadcast at federalreserve.gov and YouTube. Viewers can follow the Federal Reserve Board on Twitter at @FederalReserve, on Facebook, and join in on the discussion by using the hashtag: #FedTownHall.

Event contact: Laura Shipley -- economic-education@frb.gov

Media contact: Joe Pavel -- joe.pavel@frb.gov or 202-452-2955

In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade of economic progress. It exposed existing economic and health inequities faced by lower-income people and people of color. Millions of people—some for the very first time—experienced unemployment, housing instability, and other economic hardships.

As people return to work and our economy begins to expand, the community development field—including the financial, government, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors—has an opportunity to collectively advance policies and actions that support an inclusive and equitable recovery.

Join us for a Federal Reserve Community Development Research Seminar Series focused on supporting an inclusive recovery. Each seminar in the series will present research illuminating an issue critical to our economy, and presenters will discuss how the community development field can use these findings to support a recovery that benefits everyone.

The growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) is a key indicator of economic activity, but the official estimate is released with a delay. Our GDPNow forecasting model provides a "nowcast" of the official estimate prior to its release by estimating GDP growth using a methodology similar to the one used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

GDPNow is not an official forecast of the Atlanta Fed. Rather, it is best viewed as a running estimate of real GDP growth based on available economic data for the current measured quarter. There are no subjective adjustments made to GDPNow—the estimate is based solely on the mathematical results of the model. In particular, it does not capture the impact of COVID-19 and social mobility beyond their impact on GDP source data and relevant economic reports that have already been released. It does not anticipate their impact on forthcoming economic reports beyond the standard internal...