The pandemic accelerated a fundamental shift in US employment patterns towards jobs in the gig and "alternative" economy. The chart below is revealing: the number of job openings (blue line) is much higher than the number of unemployed (red line).
Assuming the statistics are accurate - and I believe they are - we are witnessing the early stages of a revival of bargaining power for the working class.
It is also a headache for the Fed: it can't lift its foot off the monetary brakes, even if braking will result in a recession.
Repeating my mantra: the ONLY way to deal with this inflation is to significantly reduce money supply via Quantitative Tightening. And no matter what it says, the Fed hasn't started QT-ing yet - its balance sheet assets are still very near their all time high of $9 trillion, waaaaay higher than the $4 trillion in early 2020.
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