Employment Cost Index titled above a basket of goods containing images of a semi-truck, crane, and briefcase with the words relative importance, wages, and benefits surrounding the basket.
Relative importance: putting the Employment Cost Index (ECI) into perspective www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/202... #BLSdata
Cherry Blossom Festival
After Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win a solo Nobel in economics, she got hundreds of invitations.
She accepted three.
One was advising WNBA players on a labor deal. She helped players land the biggest % raise in US sports history.
www.wsj.com/economy/wnba...
Congratulations!
a graph of US office construction spending versus US data center construction spending
The US is now building more data centers than office buildings for the first time
Spending on data centers hit a record high of nearly $47B/yr in data released today, up 31% over the last year, as office construction keeps falling
Also, I'm aware this graph looks like Kentucky
Congratulations!
Did you know that Arnold Ventures has a standing RFP for causal research proposals related to crime and the criminal justice system? Send us your ideas! We aim to get you an answer fast (within 3 months).
Noting: While storms may be most widespread late afternoon and evening Monday, a few severe storms -- capable of producing tornadoes -- could develop between midmorning and midafternoon. Some areas could see more than one round of storms. You need to be weather-aware all day.
Which teacher and what type of pie?
Bar chart showing occupations requiring a bachelor's degree projected to have the most openings each year, 2024 to 2034
Projected job openings in occupations typically requiring a bachelor’s degree, 2024–34 #BLSData www.bls.gov/opub/ted/202...
I'm excited that my paper on Air Quality and Suicide has found a great home at the Journal of Health Economics! Pollution affects mood. We show that on days of high air pollution, there are more suicide attempts and deaths by suicide in the US. www.nber.org/papers/w30626
International Women’s Day
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPCb...
Celebrate 'International Women's Day' by listening to our podcasts on these inspirational female economists:
Elinor Ostrom
Joan Robinson
Millicent Fawcett
Esther Duflo
Edith Penrose
Jayati Ghosh
#EconSky
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...
Job seeker sitting at a desk with a cell phone and laptop open to an employment app. The state of California outlined inside the picture.
Exploring the complexities of nonstandard employment: the 2022–23 California Work and Health Survey www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/202... #BLSdata
A six image collage of women actively participating in different occupations.
Women in the labor force, 2024: occupation employment profiles of women and men by age www.bls.gov/opub/reports... #BLSdata
Productivity increases 2.8% in Q4 2025; unit labor costs also increase 2.8% (annual rates) www.bls.gov/news.release... #Productivity #BLSdata
Workers in an assembly line.
Is manufacturing productivity recovering? Evidence from the past and present www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/202... #BLSdata
Bar chart showing the average hours per day spent reading for personal interest, annual averages, by age, 2024
It’s Read Across America Day! #BLSData #ReadAcrossAmericaDay www.bls.gov/opub/ted/202...
A graph of data center vs office construction, showing data centers basically tied with offices
The US now spends basically as much on data center construction as on office construction
Call for Papers for 2027 SGE@ASSA Sessions. SGE will sponsor 7 sessions at the 2027 ASSA Annual Meeting on January 3–5, 2027 in Washington DC. The submission deadline is Friday, May 1, 2026.
www.sge-econ.org/2026/02/18/c...
Looking for a way to get more involved with the Society of Government Economists? Nominations for the board of directors are being accepted through March 3rd. It’s a great group! www.sge-econ.org/about/electi...
It's nice to have a standing desk at work. I'm trying to spend more of my day standing now.
Bar chart showing labor force participation rate of civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 to 75 by presence of work-limiting health condition or difficulty and disability status, July 2024.
27.1 percent of people with a work-limiting difficulty participated in the labor force in July 2024 www.bls.gov/opub/ted/202... #BLSdata
Awesome!
One week left to write that abstract for the annual SGE conference.
My manuscript "The Economics of Noncompete Clauses" is now out in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Few topics have garnered more debate and policy attention over the last few years. This article brings us up to speed on the debate and the current answers.
pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...
New Census Working Paper: "Life-Cycle Effects of Women's Education on their Careers and Children" by Na'ama Shenhav and Danielle H. Sandler
www.census.gov/library/work...
New post: What is the impact of AI on productivity?
I review all of the studies and data that I can find and try to provide a synthesis.
A disagreement emerges: micro studies find positive benefits but these benefits are yet to show up in the macro data.
aleximas.substack.com/p/what-is-th... 🧵