Government hiring is propping up the labor market, and self-employment has collapsed to record lows. Not healthy
“Davidson” submits:
Government hiring continues to rise at a much faster pace than the overall economy. This trend began Feb 2022 and now places government employees as a group at an extraordinary level vs the historical record. This also represents an increased burden on taxpayers that has been funded by the expansion of government debt rather than increased taxes. This is a short-term trend that will lead to longer-term issues as all this must be paid for by either taxation or fee generation elsewhere in the economy. It appears that Household Employment has stalled. The difference between Household and Establishment series has been deemed the Self-Employed which has fallen to a record low. This does not make sense unless one infers that government hiring has skewed the data that makes prior assumptions inaccurate.
