U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)® December 2019

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Following the release of the Employment Situation Report for December 2019 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)® has been revised to a level of 80.53, up slightly by 0.14% from its level one month ago and reflecting a modestly higher proportion of U.S. production and non-supervisory (P&NS) jobs paying more than the mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs, relative to those jobs paying less than such mean. The mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs as of the current reading (reflecting the level as of October 2019) was $794.70, an increase of 0.01% from its level the month prior. Some of the improvement in JQI can be attributed to the return of striking General Motors workers, reflected in the November 2019 data that rolled into the index reading for this month.

The JQInstant(TM) preliminary read of the 139,000 increase in all private sector, non-farm payrolls in November 2019 shows that approximately 56.40% of the change in private sector jobs in November was in industry sectors offering P&NS jobs with an average weekly income below the above mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs (i.e. "Low Quality Jobs"). The average of the JQ-Instant readings for the final five months indicated a weighted average of 60.80% Low Quality Job formation for that period, following the reversal of an improved trend earlier in the year.

Daniel Alpert, co-creator of the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index, said, "The statistical noise generated by the now-concluded strike by workers at General Motors is filtering through the JQI this month and generated a modes rise associated with their return. The 0.01% increase in the JQI benchmark mean weekly wage from October to November is disappointing and consistent with the weak hourly wage growth seen in the December 2019 Employment Situation Report. Both averages are drawn down by increases in the relative number of low wage/low hour jobs."

For a new explanatory video on the JQI, please see: http://www.vimeo.com/jqi

This news release presents data from the most recent JQI reading calculated through the month immediately prior to the month covered by this release. The JQI assesses job quality in the United States by measuring desirable higher-wage/higher-hour jobs versus lower-wage/lower-hour jobs. The JQI offers a near-real time analytical tool to policymakers, researchers and financial market participants with relevance to a variety of trends in the economy at large. The JQI analyzes a representative sample of the economy using production and non-supervisory job (P&NS) data from 180 different industry groups spanning across all 20 super-sectors into which the BLS groups establishments. The principal data utilized is contained in the Current Employment Survey (CES, also often referred to as the establishment survey) P&NS data on average weekly hours, average hourly wage and total employment for each given industry group (seasonally adjusted, in all cases). The JQI is updated on a monthly basis contemporaneously with the release of new CES data from the BLS.

The JQ-Instant reading is for the month covered by this release and has implications for the likely direction of the JQI itself in future months. As the JQI is reported as a three-month rolling average of actual monthly readings, significant imbalances (readings varying from an even distribution between high and low quality jobs) in the JQ-Instant results would suggest future JQI readings moving in the direction of the dominant side of such distribution.

The U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (patent pending) is a joint development of the Program on the Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions and Markets at the Jack G. Clarke Institute of Cornell Law School, the University of Missouri Kansas City Department of Economics, the Coalition for a Prosperous America, and the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.

For more information, and to read the full report, visit https://www.jobqualityindex.com/.

[© 2019 JQI IP Holdings LLC.] "Private Sector Job Quality Index" and "JQI" are registered trademarks of JQI IP Holdings LLC. The Private Sector Job Quality Index is patent pending, application number US 62/900,923. Cornell logo and Cornell Law School and Jack G. Clarke Program names and references used with permission.

SOURCE U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index