Announcer:
4 Your Money is brought to you by NelsonCorp Wealth Management.
Brandy Auterson:
It’s now time for 4 Your Money. We’re joined by David Nelson, CEO of NelsonCorp Wealth Management. Welcome back, David.
David Nelson:
Thank you.
Brandy Auterson:
September started off with a pretty weak jobs market. Share with us what that looks like.
David Nelson:
Yeah. It left a lot to be desired, to say the least. Economists were expecting over 700,000, 720,000 to be exact. As far as for the number, it came in at 235, so almost a half a million light. So, it’s the weakest we’ve seen in seven months, pretty broad base across pretty much all sectors. And probably what contributed to that was the Delta variant. And we had a lot of COVID cases from that. And so, the numbers really stunk, to say the least.
Brandy Auterson:
Given some of the risks lurking out there, should we be concerned about these numbers?
David Nelson:
Yeah, we’re always cognizant, as far as risk, and clearly, the impact that it’s going to have or may have, as far as on the economy and as far as on the markets. I brought along a chart that I think will be helpful for individuals, as far as to look at. Pretty simplistic. What it’s looking at it here, it’s called the challenger jobs report, and this is the announced layoffs. And so, when you see that spike towards the right-hand side there going up, that’s COVID. And when COVID started really making headway, as far as the United States, employers started knocking, basically laying people off rapidly, and they’re announcing layoffs. So, that was that big spike. Now, if you go to the very far right where the arrow is pointing, the yellow arrow is pointing to that number, that’s an all-time low, a record low. So in other words, there’s a lot of jobs out there, and employers aren’t looking to push people out. What they’re doing is they’re basically looking to hire more individuals.
Brandy Auterson:
For sure. Can the performance of the jobs market impact financial assets?
David Nelson:
Yeah, most certainly. This is a big contributor and need to pay attention to that. Going back to basics, the US economy is 70% driven by the US consumer, as far as the spending of the US consumer. And so, when you have weakness, as far as in the jobs arena, that will, through time, trickle, as far as into the economy as a whole, and certainly going to impact, as far as stock markets are concerned. The other part that I think is really important, and this, I want to explain clearly to people that wage is going up, which is where we find ourself today. It’s roughly a 4% increase that we’re seeing as an average across the board, will weigh on corporate profits. I’m not saying that in a bad way. What I’m saying is that individuals need to be aware of that, and that will weigh on profits and probably will have some impact, as far as on stock returns. Again, just things for individuals to be aware of. Pay attention, folks. These are really important times.
Brandy Auterson:
If you missed any of our discussion, we’ll make it available for you on OurQuadCities.com.