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Journal Article
Signs of Cyclical Weakness in Part-Time Employment?
Involuntary part-time employment—the share of people who work less than 35 hours per week but want and are available to work full-time—has increased since 2023. While this contrasts with steady declines during previous cyclical expansions, it is consistent with the recent rise in unemployment. Examining worker transitions shows that fewer workers have found full-time work and a growing number have remained stuck in part-time employment. Though levels are only slightly elevated since 2023, this pattern may hint at emerging cyclical weakness in the labor market.
Journal Article
AI-Powered Algorithmic Pricing and Monetary Policy
The business practice of adjusting prices using algorithms powered by artificial intelligence—known as AI pricing—has grown rapidly and spread across many sectors in the economy. Unlike traditional price setting, AI pricing uses predictive analysis of large data sets to incorporate real-time changes in supply and demand conditions into pricing decisions. This enables businesses to adjust prices more quickly in response to unexpected changes in market conditions and monetary policy. Industry-level evidence suggests that price adjustments are more sensitive to monetary policy in sectors ...
Journal Article
How Labor Force Participation Has Diverged Across Genders
U.S. labor force participation rose for decades until the mid-1990s but has fallen steadily since then. This general pattern masks different paths for men and women in the workforce. Aging and rising education explain much of the long-run changes but do not account for the divergence by gender. Men’s trend participation has fallen steadily since the late 1970s, while women’s participation rose through 2000 before flattening. The difference mainly reflects younger male cohorts participating less than earlier ones, whereas younger female cohorts—especially those with more education—have ...
Journal Article
Assessing the Recent Rise in Unemployment
The unemployment rate has risen over half a percentage point since the second quarter of 2023. Individual survey data underlying the unemployment rate can help in assessing which labor market transitions account for this rise. One dominant factor appears to be a fall in the job-finding rate—the share of unemployed individuals finding employment. The duration of unemployment has also increased recently. In past decades, these patterns have frequently occurred during the onset of recessions, which suggests that these data should be closely monitored.