New economic reports regarding jobs and inflation are due to come out in the coming days, but what do these reports really mean for most Americans?
Mark Hamrick, Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Economic Analyst for Bankrate.com, joined WWL’s Newell Normand to explain.
“Our most recent survey that we released in the month of February found that 49% of Americans have either less or no emergency savings,” he said, later adding that “the one that really gets me that 36% say that they have more credit card debt than emergency savings. That’s one in three.”
As many Americans struggle to build savings and pay down their debt, Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell indicated this week that interest rate hikes could accelerate this year. Those hikes could make credit card payments increase even more.
“This is a controversial point, Newall, because inflation certainly hasn't gone away, although it appears to have peaked,” said Hamrick. “And what the chairman really said was he needs to see the jobs data tomorrow.”
Both the jobs report and the Consumer Price Index report factor into the Fed’s decisions on interest rates as they strive to “achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2% over the longer run.”
Ahead of the jobs report Friday, Hamrick said “some of the data is sort of pointing to some weakness or weakening of the job market,” and the CPI report is expected Tuesday.
“Many in the financial markets are essentially betting that we could have interest rates going up still over the course of this year, yet another full percentage point,” said Hamrick. “But I would also add that that is highly uncertain because we just don’t know how the economy is going to unfold and perhaps to some degree unravel in the months ahead.”
Listen to the full conversation here.
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