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March 2018 Labor Market Survey: Greater Job Stability And That Fewer Labor Market Participants Searched For Jobs

By Kurt Osterberg · On April 17, 2018

from the New York Fed

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data released the March 2018 SCE Labor Market Survey, which shows a decline in the proportion of individuals who searched for a job, and in the average full-time offer wage.

Satisfaction with nonwage benefits and promotion opportunities both improved slightly. Regarding expectations, the average expected wage offer (conditional on receiving one) increased while expectations about the likelihood of receiving job offers continued to decline. The average reservation wage—the lowest wage at which respondents would be willing to accept a new job—jumped up, reaching its highest level since November 2016.

Experiences

Among those who were employed four months ago, 97.4% were still employed, compared to 94.7% in the November survey. The rate of transitioning to a different employer continued its rise from 3.8% in July 2017, to 5.1% in November 2017, to 5.5% this March, reaching the highest level since July 2015.

The proportion of individuals who reported searching for a job in the past four weeks declined from 21.8% in November to 18.1%, the lowest level since the start of the series in March 2014. The decline was broad-based across demographic groups.

14.9% of individuals reported receiving at least one job offer in the past four months, down from 19.4% in November. This is the lowest level of the series since its start in November 2014. The distribution of the number of offers, conditional on receiving at least one offer, was little changed from the previous survey. The average full-time offer wage received in the past four months, on the other hand, declined from $59,110 in the November survey to $56,167.

Satisfaction with nonwage benefits at their current jobs increased slightly: 67.6% of the employed respondents reported being satisfied with the nonwage benefits at their jobs, up from 67.1% in November. Satisfaction reported by respondents with wage compensation at their current jobs edged up from 59.9% in November to 63.5%. This increase was driven by older (those aged 45 or more) and lower-educated workers (those without a college degree).

Satisfaction reported by respondents with promotion opportunities at their current jobs also improved: increasing from 47.2% in November to 50.0%. The increase was most notable for lower-educated workers.