Dan Celia: Is the Labor Force Tightening?
And, If So, Could That Mean an Economic Slowdown?
February 19, 2020
PHILADELPHIA—Nationally syndicated host and biblical investing authority Dan Celia this week is carefully analyzing the jobs market, which, due to a strong economy, could be tightening. And that potential tightening could cause a slowdown.
“Looking back at the close of 2019, there were 6.4 million job openings at the end of December, down 14.9% from a year earlier, according to the labor department,” Celia said. “That marks the largest annual drop since December 2009. Still, the number of job openings has exceeded the number of unemployed Americans for 22 consecutive months—and it’s not clear if companies have taken down postings because they don’t need as many workers, if they’ve given up because it’s so hard to find workers, or if this is just a blip.
Celia pointed to the words of J.P. Morgan economist Daniel Silver, who said, “The trend in job growth has remained strong through January, but the recent decline in job openings signals that job growth could slow at some point.”
“It’s slowing,” Celia added, “because we do not have workers; I believe this is more about the lack of workers available to fill the jobs.
“We could be entering a tightening labor force as opposed to loosening—that is what I, the Federal Reserve and others have been worried about. If this persists, we will start to see a slowdown in our economy. We have been at full employment for two years—and it may be starting to catch up to us.”
Celia discusses these and other global and economic headlines on his daily, three-hour “Financial Issues” program, heard on more than 660 radio stations and several television networks nationwide, including FISM.TV, viewed on several post-cable television platforms and online.
Read more about Celia, FISM and “Financial Issues” or visit the FISM website, its Facebook page, on YouTube at Financial Issues with Dan Celia or on Twitter @financialissues; download the FISM app here.
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To book Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries’ Dan Celia, contact Media@HamiltonStrategies.com or Patrick Benner, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102.
