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    Inflation Report Dampens Biden’s Claims of Economic Progress

    The president is trying once again to accentuate the positives in the recovery from recession, but stubbornly high prices are complicating the message.The Consumer Price Index report for August showed inflation had not cooled as the administration had hoped and Americans had lost buying power over the last year as prices rose faster than wages.Sarah Silbiger for The New York TimesWASHINGTON — President Biden gathered with top Democrats at the White House on Tuesday to celebrate their inflation fight at an inopportune moment, as a sobering new report showed just how far the economy still has to go to bring soaring consumer prices under control.The Consumer Price Index report for August contained a large dose of unwelcome news for the president, who has sought to defuse Republican attacks over rising prices in the run-up to November’s midterm elections. It showed that inflation had not cooled as White House economists and other forecasters had hoped, and that workers had lost buying power over the last year as prices increased faster than wages.Another report, from the Census Bureau, showed that the typical American household saw its inflation-adjusted income fall slightly in 2021 from 2020. Perhaps more troubling for a president who has promised to close the gap between the very wealthy and the middle class, it showed that income inequality increased last year for the first time in a decade.Those developments challenged Mr. Biden’s renewed efforts to reframe the economy as a winning issue for him and his party before the midterms — though the president seemed unfazed.Mr. Biden welcomed thousands of supporters to the White House lawn to toast a new law that he says will help reduce the cost of electricity, prescription drugs and other staples of American life.The event was essentially a rally for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which raised taxes on large corporations, targeted nearly $400 billion in spending and tax incentives to reduce the fossil fuel emissions driving climate change, and took steps to reduce prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare and premium costs for Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.Mr. Biden called the law “the single most important legislation passed in the Congress to combat inflation and one of the most significant laws in our nation’s history.”“There’s an extraordinary story being written in America today by this administration,” Mr. Biden said, adding, “This bill cut costs for families, helped reduce inflation at the kitchen table.”On Wednesday, Mr. Biden will head to the Detroit auto show, where he will champion his policies to bolster manufacturing and low-emission sources of energy.But the country’s economic reality remains more muddled than Mr. Biden’s rosy message, as the inflation report underscored. Food prices are continuing to spike, straining lower-income families in particular. The global economy is slowing sharply, and threats remain to the American recovery if European sanctions force millions of barrels of Russian oil off the global market in the months to come.The State of the 2022 Midterm ElectionsWith the primaries winding down, both parties are starting to shift their focus to the general election on Nov. 8.Polling Warnings: Democratic Senate candidates are polling well in the same places where surveys overestimated President Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.Democrats’ Dilemma: The party’s candidates have been trying to signal their independence from the White House, while not distancing themselves from President Biden’s base or agenda.Intraparty G.O.P. Fight: Ahead of New Hampshire’s primary, mainstream Republicans have been vying to stop a Trump-style 2020 election denier running for Senate.Abortion Ballot Measures: First came Kansas. Now, Michigan voters will decide whether abortion will remain legal in their state. Democrats are hoping referendums like these will drive voter turnout.A possible railroad strike could disrupt domestic supply chains. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters on Tuesday that the president had called union and company leaders on Monday in an attempt to broker an agreement to avert the strike.Most important — and perhaps most damaging for Mr. Biden and Democrats — Americans’ wages have struggled to keep pace with fast-rising prices, an uncomfortable truth for a president who promised to make real wage gains a centerpiece of his economic program. Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings ticked up across the economy in August, the Labor Department said on Tuesday, but they remain down nearly 3 percent from a year ago.Republicans were quick to criticize Mr. Biden after the report on Tuesday. “Every day, Americans endure Biden’s economic crisis,” said Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, the top Republican on the Small Business Committee. “The Democrats’ inflation continues to drive up costs and leads more and more small businesses and families questioning their future.”.css-1v2n82w{max-width:600px;width:calc(100% – 40px);margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:25px;height:auto;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;font-family:nyt-franklin;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1v2n82w{margin-left:20px;margin-right:20px;}}@media only screen and (min-width:1024px){.css-1v2n82w{width:600px;}}.css-161d8zr{width:40px;margin-bottom:18px;text-align:left;margin-left:0;color:var(–color-content-primary,#121212);border:1px solid var(–color-content-primary,#121212);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-161d8zr{width:30px;margin-bottom:15px;}}.css-tjtq43{line-height:25px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-tjtq43{line-height:24px;}}.css-x1k33h{font-family:nyt-cheltenham;font-size:19px;font-weight:700;line-height:25px;}.css-ok2gjs{font-size:17px;font-weight:300;line-height:25px;}.css-ok2gjs a{font-weight:500;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}.css-1c013uz{margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:22px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz{font-size:14px;margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:20px;}}.css-1c013uz a{color:var(–color-signal-editorial,#326891);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font-weight:500;font-size:16px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz a{font-size:13px;}}.css-1c013uz a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.Learn more about our process.Mr. Biden and his aides have celebrated falling gasoline prices on a daily basis throughout the summer. Those decreasing prices have helped inflation moderate from its high point this year, though not enough to offset rising rent, food and other costs last month.Even as he acknowledges the pain of rapid price increases across the economy, Mr. Biden has claimed progress in the fight against inflation, including with the signing last month of the energy, health care and tax bill that Democrats called the Inflation Reduction Act. On Tuesday morning, he sought to put a positive shine on the August data, saying in a statement issued by the White House that it was a sign of “more progress” in bringing down inflation.At his celebration on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Biden barely mentioned the word “inflation.” Instead, he talked about reducing medical and energy costs — and, to a much larger extent, about the law’s efforts to combat climate change.Near the end of the speech, he gave a strident defense of his administration’s economic record, including strong job creation, record small-business formation and a rebound of the manufacturing sector.“And guess what?” Mr. Biden said. “For all the criticism I got and the help you gave me for gas prices bringing — they’re down more than $1.30 a gallon since the start of the summer. We’re making progress. We’re getting other prices down as well. We have more to do. But we’re getting there.”Recent weeks have brought signs of hope for administration officials, among both consumers and companies. The National Federation of Independent Business reported on Tuesday that its Small Business Optimism Index rose in August as inflation anxiety eased, continuing a rebound from its depths this year. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported on Monday that consumer inflation expectations were also falling.Officials inside the administration and at the Federal Reserve say strong job growth and consumer spending this summer have put to rest fears that the country slipped into recession in the first half of the year.“What is most notable about where we are right now is the resilience of the labor market recovery, the resilience of American consumers and households, and that we are beginning to see some signs that prices may be moderating,” Brian Deese, the director of Mr. Biden’s National Economic Council, said in an interview this week.“There’s more work to do,” Mr. Deese said. “But I think that is a signal that the economic decisions that this president has made are bearing fruit.”But polls continue to show that inflation is hurting Mr. Biden and his party at a pivotal moment, as Democrats seek to retain control of the House and the Senate. High prices loom as the top issue for voters in national opinion polls, and Americans say they trust Republicans more to handle inflation and the economy overall than Democrats.On Tuesday, stock markets recorded their largest daily loss in two years, driven by investor fears of stubborn inflation pushing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher and faster than many expected.Economists on Wall Street and in policy circles are debating whether the U.S. economy can achieve a so-called soft landing, with economic and job growth slowing in order to bring inflation down — but not slowing so much as to push millions of Americans out of work. Some, like the former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, have warned that the unemployment rate will need to rise significantly to bring price growth down to historical levels.Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, whose analyses of Mr. Biden’s policy proposals are often promoted by the White House, said on Twitter on Tuesday that “job and wage growth must sharply slow” to reduce price increases in the service sector. “This is on the Fed, which must hike rates to get job and wage growth down without pushing the economy under.”Tuesday’s inflation report, he added, “suggests that while still doable, it won’t be easy.” More

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    Inflation Came in Faster Than Expected in August Even as Gas Prices Fell

    Overall inflation moderated less than anticipated, and a closely watched measure of price pressures jumped, bad news for the Federal Reserve.Price increases remained uncomfortably rapid in August as a broad array of goods and services became more expensive even as gas prices fell, evidence that the sustainable inflation slowdown the Federal Reserve and White House have been hoping for remains elusive.Prices rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier, a fresh Consumer Price Index report released on Tuesday showed. While slightly better than July’s 8.5 percent, the rate was not as much of a moderation as economists had expected as rent costs, restaurant meals and medical care became more expensive. Compounding the bad news, a core measure of inflation that strips out gas and food to get a sense of underlying price trends accelerated more than forecast.Stocks plummeted on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 falling 4.3 percent — its biggest drop since the depths of the pandemic in 2020 — as the data appeared to cement the case for another unusually large interest rate increase of three-quarters of a percentage point at the Fed’s meeting next week. That would be the third consecutive move of that size and bring rates to a range of 3 to 3.25 percent. Investors speculated that officials could even opt for a more drastic adjustment of a full percentage point this month or extend their campaign of swift rate moves for longer.Fed officials have been raising interest rates since March to slow the economy in a bid to tame America’s worst bout of inflation in four decades, but the data suggested that their efforts were not yet having much of an effect. Inflation’s relentlessness may force central bankers to clamp down on the economy harder, potentially pushing up unemployment more starkly, as they try to wrestle prices back under control.“Inflation momentum accelerated in all the wrong places,” said Blerina Uruci, a U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price, explaining that strong household balance sheets may be helping to sustain demand even as interest rates rise and borrowing becomes expensive.“In this environment, monetary policy has to do that much more to cool down demand and have an effect on prices,” Ms. Uruci said.Prices, including rapid increases for food away from home, climbed from July to August.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesThe inflation data also contained unwelcome news for the White House. President Biden, whose popularity with voters has suffered amid rising costs, sought to put a positive spin on the new data by noting that prices overall have been essentially flat over the past two months thanks to cheaper gas. But the fact that inflation retains so much staying power is likely to detract from the administration’s positive talking points.That’s because the latest report’s details offered plenty to worry about.Two products that had been major factors in inflation over the past year — gas and used cars — are now falling in price, a widely expected and important development. But the cost of other goods and services is rising so much that it is more than offsetting those declines.Prices climbed 0.1 percent from July as rapid increases hit a variety of products and services, including food away from home, new cars, dental care and vehicle repair. Given how much gas prices fell in August, the price index had been forecast to decline on a monthly basis.Inflation F.A.Q.Card 1 of 5What is inflation? More

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    Inflation, Jobs, Manufacturing: How Is the US Economy Doing?

    The U.S. economy is in a strange place right now. Job growth is slowing, but demand for workers is strong. Inflation is high (but not as high as last spring). Consumers are spending more in some areas, but cutting back in others. Job openings are high but falling, while layoffs are low and … well, […] More

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    Inflation rose 0.1% in August even with sharp drop in gas prices

    The consumer price index increased 0.1% in August. Excluding food and energy, the inflation gauge increased 0.6%, both higher than expected.
    Costs were driven by increases in food, shelter and medical care services, offsetting a sharp decline in gasoline prices.
    Real average hourly earnings adjusted for inflation rose 0.2% for the month. However, they remained down 2.8% from a year ago.

    Inflation rose more than expected in August as rising shelter and food costs offset a drop in gas prices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
    The consumer price index, which tracks a broad swath of goods and services, increased 0.1% for the month and 8.3% over the past year. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, CPI rose 0.6% from July and 6.3% from the same month in 2021.

    Economists had been expecting headline inflation to fall 0.1% and core to increase 0.3%, according to Dow Jones estimates. The respective year-over-year forecasts were for 8% and 6% gains.
    Energy prices fell 5% for the month, led by a 10.6% slide in the gasoline index. However, those declines were offset by increases elsewhere.
    The food index increased 0.8% in August and shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the weighting in the CPI, jumped 0.7% and are up 6.2% from a year ago.
    Medical care services also showed a big increase, rising 0.8% on the month and up 5.6% from August 2021. New vehicle prices also rose, increasing 0.8% though used vehicles fell 0.1%.
    Markets slumped following the news, with futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 350 points after being higher earlier.

    Treasury yields leaped higher, as the two-year note, which is most closely tied to Federal Reserve interest rate moves, surging 0.13 percentage point to 3.704%.
    Markets had been widely expecting the Fed to enact a 0.75 percentage point rate increase at its meeting next week. Following the CPI release, traders took the possibility of a half-point move completely off the table and even were pricing in a 10% chance of a full percentage point hike, according to CME Group data.

    “They’re watching for where inflation is coming from,” said Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial. “It’s very clear to them that it’s food, it’s transportation and it’s rent. Rent keeps marching higher. That is the most stubborn of everything the Fed is fighting at this point.”
    The report presented conflicting sides of the inflation picture.
    After peaking above $5 a gallon this summer, gasoline prices have pulled back sharply. However, the cost of living in other key areas such as food and shelter continue to push higher, raising concerns that inflation that had been concentrated is now beginning to spread.
    To combat the surge, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates four times this year for a total of 2.25 percentage points. Tuesday’s report was not expected to have great impact on the September meeting but rather through the end of the year and into 2023 as the central bank looks to tame inflation without tanking the economy.
    The economy broadly has struggled in 2022 after posting its best year since 1984 last year, and inflation has played a major role. Gross domestic product contracted in each of the first two quarters, meeting a widely accepted definition of recession, and is on track to rise at just a 1.3% annualized pace in the third quarter, according to the Atlanta Fed.
    There was some good news for workers in the August report, as real average hourly earnings adjusted for inflation rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month. However, they remained down 2.8% from a year ago.
    The Fed is hoping to slow a labor market that has posed solid job gains through the year. Specifically, policymakers are concerned about a huge gap between job openings and available workers as labor force participation is stuck below its pre-pandemic levels. That has resulted in rising wages that have in turn put pressure on prices.
    This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

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    The Fed is going to pivot in 3 stages, author Nomi Prins says

    Markets expect the central bank to enact a third consecutive 75 basis point hike at its monetary policy meeting later this month.
    Prins told CNBC on Tuesday that the acceleration of interest rate hikes to soothe the markets was disconnected from the economic reality faced by many.

    A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as a screen shows Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell during a news conference following a Fed rate announcement, in New York City, U.S., July 27, 2022. 
    Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

    The U.S. Federal Reserve could be forced to pivot away from its path of aggressive interest rate hikes in three stages, according to author Nomi Prins.
    Markets expect the central bank to enact a third consecutive 75 basis point hike at its monetary policy meeting later this month, the fastest pace of monetary tightening since policymakers began using the benchmark Fed funds rate as the principal policy tool in the early 1990s.

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    Various Fed officials have reiterated the Federal Open Market Committee’s commitment in recent weeks to reining in inflation, but Prins told CNBC Tuesday that the acceleration of interest rate hikes to soothe the markets was disconnected from the economic reality faced by many.
    “This period of accelerating the rate hikes that we’ve seen so far has impacted the real economy because it has squeezed the borrowing costs … for real people, real consumers,” she said.
    “Whereas for the Street in general, historically money still remains cheap and leverage still remains high in the system, and the Fed’s book still remains just a touch under $9 trillion, which is double what it was going into the pandemic period, and since the financial crisis of 2008.”

    Despite the broad market expectation for further 75 basis point hikes, Prins – a global economist and outspoken advocate for economic reform – said the Fed would likely pivot away from its hawkish trajectory in three stages as the disconnect between wealthy investors and institutions and the “real economy” widens.
    Having firstly reduced the pace of rate hikes to 50 basis points and then neutralized policy, Prins expects the Fed to begin reversing course and becoming “accommodative,” with the U.S. already having recorded two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

    “Whether that’s to cut rates or to increase the size of its book again, that still remains to be seen,” Prins added.
    Inflation worldwide has been driven skyward by supply chain bottlenecks in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, lingering supply blockages in China due to recurring lockdowns, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused food and energy prices to surge.
    Central banks have argued that aggressive action is needed to prevent inflation becoming “entrenched” in their respective economies, and have been particularly wary of consumer price inflation feeding through to wage inflation, which they anticipate could further exacerbate demand and therefore price increases.

    At his speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in late August, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell responded to market concern about an impending recession caused by tightening monetary conditions by asserting that “some pain” for the economy would be necessary in the fight against inflation.
    Prins argued that by targeting wage inflation when wage rises are failing to keep pace with broader inflation was a mistake.
    “I think the Fed absolutely is missing this connection between what is going on for real people in the real economy and why, and how that relates to the overall inflation picture, which it has basically positioned itself to fight. There’s just a mismatch here,” she said.
    She argued that central banks raising rates as their main tool to fight inflation has caused a “chasm” between the individuals and institutions that were able to leverage themselves into the markets when borrowing costs and prices were considerably lower, and the average consumer.

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    Strike Threat on Freight Railroads Is New Supply Chain Worry

    Administration officials are pushing for a settlement to head off a walkout by tens of thousands of workers on Friday.Biden administration officials are racing to prevent a strike by tens of thousands of freight railroad workers that could further disrupt an already strained supply chain and cause billions of dollars in economic damage.The industry failed to reach a contract agreement with two unions representing much of the work force, and a federally mandated 30-day “cooling off” period ends on Friday, opening a door to strikes and lockouts. Some freight companies have started to limit services, and Amtrak, which carries many travelers on lines operated by freight railroads, said it would cancel some passenger service starting on Tuesday.Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh pressured both sides over the weekend to reach an agreement, and administration officials have held dozens of calls with the industry and the unions, according to the Labor Department.“All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues and come to an agreement,” the department said in a statement. “The fact that we are already seeing some impacts of contingency planning by railways again demonstrates that a shutdown of our freight rail system is an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people, and all parties must work to avoid that.”The deadlock puts President Biden in a complicated position. His administration has taken pains to restore and fortify the supply chain, which was deeply disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. It has also worked hard to protect and endorse union rights.“A strike doesn’t help anybody,” Mr. Walsh said in an interview late last month. “A strike doesn’t help the workers. A strike doesn’t help the general public. A strike certainly doesn’t help the supply chain.”In July, Mr. Biden established an emergency board to help mediate the dispute between the industry, which includes six of the largest freight rail carriers, and about a dozen unions. Last month, that board recommended a resolution with a cumulative raise of 24 percent from 2020 through 2024, including an immediate 14 percent wage increase covering the first three years.Most of the unions agreed to the proposal, pending a vote of their membership. But two major unions are holding out for improvements to working conditions, which they say have steadily worsened in recent years as rail carriers have cut staffing.The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the SMART Transportation Division, which represent engineers and conductors, say workers must often stay on call for several days at a time, working 12-hour shifts with little notice, and are penalized for calling in sick.“Our unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal that we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification, but it is the rail carriers that refuse to reach an acceptable agreement,” they said in a joint statement. “In fact, it was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our unions.”Inflation F.A.Q.Card 1 of 5What is inflation? More

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    Falling gas prices are raising hopes that inflation is slowing, New York Fed survey shows

    Respondents to the New York Fed’s August Survey of Consumer Expectations indicated they expect the annual inflation rate to be 5.7% a year from now.
    Along those lines, consumers now expect gas prices to be little changed a year from now — though they see food rising 5.8%.

    A person removes the nozel from a pump at a gas station on July 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia.
    Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images

    Lower gas prices are raising optimism that inflation is on the decline, according to a survey Monday from the New York Federal Reserve.
    Respondents to the central bank’s August Survey of Consumer Expectations indicated they expect the annual inflation rate to be 5.7% a year from now. That’s a decline from 6.2% in July and the lowest level since October 2021.

    Three-year inflation expectations dropped to 2.8% in August from 3.2% the previous month. That was tied for the lowest level for that measure since November 2020.
    The lowered outlook came amid a tumble in gasoline prices from more than $5 a gallon earlier in the summer, a nominal record high. The current national average is about $3.71 a gallon, still well above the price from a year ago, but about a 26-cent decline from the same point in August, according to AAA.

    Along those lines, consumers now expect gas prices to be little changed a year from now, according to the Fed survey. Food prices are expected to continue to climb, but the 5.8% anticipated increase a year from now is 0.8 percentage point lower than it was in July.
    Rents are projected to increase 9.6%, but that is a 0.3 percentage point drop from the July survey.
    Those numbers come as the Fed is using a series of aggressive interest rate hikes to battle inflation that is still running close to a more than 40-year high. The central bank is widely expected to approve a third consecutive 0.75 percentage point increase when it meets again next week.

    Rising cost of living

    While consumers expect inflation pressures to ease somewhat, they still think the cost of living will escalate.
    Median expectations for household spending over the next year rose 1 percentage point to 7.8% in August, an increase in outlook driven largely by those holding a high school education or less and a group largely composed of lower earners.
    Moreover, respondents said credit is harder to come by now. Those reporting that it’s more difficult now to get credit rose to a series high, with 57.8% saying that it’s either harder or much harder, the New York Fed reported.
    Also, those expecting to miss a minimum debt payment over the next three months rose 12.2%, a 1.4 percentage point gain that was the highest reading since May 2020.
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday will release the August consumer price index reading. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect CPI to have risen 8% from a year ago, though they see a decline of 0.1% from July. Excluding food and energy, core CPI is projected to rise 6% year over year and 0.3% month over month.

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    Who Are America’s Missing Workers?

    The labor market appears hot, but the share of people who are either working or actively looking for a job still hasn’t quite recovered.As the United States emerges from the pandemic, employers have been desperate to hire. But while demand for goods and services has rebounded, the supply of labor has fallen short, holding back the economy.More than two years after the Covid-19 recession officially ended, some sectors haven’t found the workers they need to operate at capacity. Only in August did the work force return to its prepandemic size, which is millions short of where it would have been had it continued to grow at its prepandemic rate.In simple numbers, some of that gap is due to Covid’s death toll: more than a million people, about 260,000 of them short of retirement age. In addition, a sharp slowdown in legal immigration has pared the potential work force by 3.2 million, relative to its trajectory before 2017, according to calculations by economists at J.P. Morgan.But the problem isn’t just that population growth has stalled. Even with an uptick in August, the share of Americans working or actively looking for work is 62.4 percent, compared with 63.4 percent in February 2020.“It’s my sense that the most important reason that the labor market feels so hot right now is that we have so many fewer people in it,” said Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project, an economic policy center at the Brookings Institution. “Demand largely recovered, and we didn’t have the supply.”Unraveling the causes of that lingering reluctance is difficult, but it’s possible to identify a few major groups who are on the sidelines.People at retirement age, who had been staying in the work force longer as longevity increased before the pandemic, dropped out at disproportionate rates and haven’t returned. More puzzlingly, men in their prime working years, from 25 to 54, have retreated from the work force relative to February 2020, while women have bounced back. Magnifying those disparities are two crosscutting factors: the long-term health complications from Covid-19, and a lagging return for workers without college degrees.Older workers are lagging behind in returning to the work forcePercent change in labor force participation rate for each age group since before the pandemic More