Blogging on Employment and Job Markets in US Metro Areas

Monthly Archives: April 2017

The Death of Retail Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Posted - filed under Employment, Retail.

The news is full of doom and gloom for retailers, driven by some high profile bankruptcies and store closings by national chains such as Sports Authority, Sears, Payless Shoes, J.C. Penny, Macy’s and others. Explanations for the difficulties faced by brick and mortar retail focus on the rise of online shopping (most notably Amazon) and… Read more »

Metro Area Population Growth – Current and Previous Expansions

Posted - filed under Population.

Using the NBER’s method of measuring expansions from trough to peak (see this NBER page on expansions and contractions) our current expansion is still chugging along 82 months after the June 2009 trough. The previous expansion, from November 2001 through December 2007 (referred to as “the 2001-07 expansion” for the rest of this post), was… Read more »