Economics
America's Job Market Is Defying Employer Labor Shortage Reports
- Hiring has bucked scarcity complaints in Beige Book for years
- Fed is scrutinizing labor market for signs of wage pressure
Job seekers wait in line to speak with representatives during a career fair in Los Angeles, California.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Interpreting job market anecdotes in the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey of regional businesses is more art than science -- and it’s the kind of art that demands a skeptical eye.
Employment was still tiptoeing back from the depths of the Great Recession when reports of worker shortages began to surface in the study, the latest edition of which comes out at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Washington.