1952: Employment and Income

1952 continued the strong employment situation started in 1951:

The unemployment rate -- which was already low -- continued at it's strong rate, fluctuating between 3.4% and 2.7% for the year.  

 Total employees on all payrolls was more or less constant for the first seven months of the year, but really started to take-off in the last five months.

 Goods producing industries were pretty constant for the the first five months of the year.  They dropped over the summer, but then really took off. adding over 600,000 jobs in the last five months of the year.

Service producing industries saw better overall performance; they increased a bit during the first few months, leveled off, and then increased strongly in the last five months of the year.  Overall, we see services adding a little under 1 million jobs for the year.

Growth in government employment mirrors the service industry chart for the year.

Thanks to a low rate of unemployment, we see strong growth in DPI:

 Total DPI increased every quarter in absolute (inflation-adjusted) terms.

 The continuously compounded annual rate of change was weak in the first quarter, but picked-up momentum in the second and third quarter, and ended the year on a strong note.

The rate of change year over year was small in the first half of the year, but accelerated in the second.

Finally, above is a chart from the 1953 Economic Report to the President that shows income and savings -- which was at a very strong rate in 1952.

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1951, Employment and Income

 

Thanks to the economy being on a war footing, unemployment was incredibly low - coming in below the 5% most economists consider to be full employment.

 Total non-farm employment grew by over 1 million jobs during the year.

However, despite the need for durable goods, total goods producing actually added less than 200,000 total jobs during the year.

The real job gains occurred in the service industries, which saw about 900,000 jobs added, and

government employment, which saw large increases (around 300,00).

Thanks to near full employment, disposable personal income increased:

On a continuously compounded annual rate of change basis,we see a slight gain in the first quarter, a big gain in the second and then more moderate increases in the third and fourth. 

And on a percentage change from the previous year, we see strong increases in the second, third and fourth quarter.

The following charts are from the 1951 Economic  Report to the President, and are included because I think they're really interesting.

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