Fed Chair Powell Talks to A Startling First in our Nation's History of Job Growth

"Effectively, there is a zero job creation equilibrium in the private sector — which we've never had in our nation's history." — Jerome Powell, today's press conference.

For the first time in 250 years, the number of jobs we need to create to keep up with growth in the labor force is zero. None.

This reflects two converging trends. First, the birthrate and retirement rate have been drawing closer together over the last two decades, shrinking the growth in the number of new workers. Second, between deportations and the slowdown in immigration, the labor force is no longer growing the way it has for 250 years.