FEATURED POST
May 28, 2025
“The Age of Work”, part two: The country’s youngest workforce
In the past two decades, the median age of workers in the United States has risen from 40.3 years to 42.4. It might not sound like a big change, but it’s having a big effect. This aging workforce is one reason the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that annual U.S. employment growth will slow to just 0.4 percent over the next decade, less than a third of the 1.3 percent annual growth recorded between 2013 and 2023.
Read more
Subscribe to Data Lab
Stay up-to-date on the latest reports and trends.
Stay up to date with Data Lab
Please complete all fields.
Filter by:
April 15, 2025
Employee sentiment index rose in April
by Mary Hayes, Ph.D. • Jared Northup
The ADP Research Employee Motivation and Commitment Index, which tracks how people think and feel about their jobs, gained two points in April to return to its series high.
Read more
February 18, 2025
Employee sentiment rebounded in February
by Mary Hayes, Ph.D. • Jared Northup
Employee sentiment rebounded in February, gaining 5 points to match a record high set in July 2024. Two sectors—retail and wholesale trade, and information—hit new record highs.
Read more
November 14, 2023
Employers and student debt
Student loan payments are back. Here’s why employers need to pay attention.
Read more
January 30, 2023
MainStreet Macro: Nela’s Recession Playbook
The biggest economic debate of 2023 is whether the U.S. is heading toward a recession. And the reason it’s being debated is because the data shows evidence for both sides.
In the no-recession camp, the economy grew by 2.9 percent last quarter, besting analysts estimates, and inflation slowed for the second straight month in December. And while we’ve seen big headlines on corporate layoffs, these job losses aren’t yet reflected in the data. Jobless claims for the first three weeks of January were near record lows.
Read more
January 23, 2023
MainStreet Macro: Shaking off the gloom in Davos
The annual World Economic Forum gathering in the mountainside retreat of Davos, Switzerland, is most commonly described with a single word: elite. After attending the meetings last week, I’d like to offer three more words that perhaps more constructively capture the ethos of Davos this year: Optimism, dealmaking, and hope.
Read more
January 17, 2023
MainStreet Macro: Minimum wages are rising. But is it enough?
Last week, data for December showed that the rate of inflation had fallen to 6.5 percent from 7.1 percent a year earlier. The decline was driven mainly by a steep drop in gas prices.
While overall inflation might (thankfully) be losing steam, workers, especially those with smaller paychecks, continue to suffer an erosion of the pay gains they reaped during 2022’s tight labor market.
Read more
