The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has just published its NCCI Labor Market Insights Report as of July 2024.
This resource includes:
– – An overview of the most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including employment change, average hourly earnings, payroll growth, and hiring rates
– – Key insights that provide context and highlight labor market trends that could impact the workers compensation industry
– – Benchmark averages for a long-term view into how the labor market continues to evolve alongside our changing workforce and our economy
Key Insights:
– – The June jobs report revealed solid employment growth for the month, but that news masked a relatively weaker report overall. Private sector employment growth was more modest while revisions to previous data reduced employment growth over the previous two months by 111,000.
– – Over the first half of 2024, the private sector labor market told a tale of two economies. White-collar employment-information services, financial activities, and professional and business services – grew at an annualized pace of just 0.5% while all other private industry groups grew at an annualized pace of 1.9%.
– – Wage growth also remained solid, especially in construction and manufacturing, two important workers compensation industries.
– – The unemployment rate ticked up again in June and has now risen to its highest level since 2021, though it remains historically low.
– – The slowdown in white-collar employment discussed above contributed to a portion of the uptick in job seekers. In addition, there has been a notable rise in prime-age labor force participation this year.
– – Unemployment in 2024 has also reflected a tale of two economies. The rise in unemployment this year has come primarily from new entrants and reentrants rather than those losing and leaving jobs, another key signal that the labor market is returning to balance rather than deteriorating.