Before the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment was at historically low levels of 3.5%. As the world shutdown in April 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate peaked at 14.7%. Today, unemployment levels have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels and lower. In fact, as of April 2022, 20.8 million of the 22 million (or 95%) jobs lost because of the pandemic have been recovered. (Credit: VectorMine/Adobe Stock)
Inflation is impacting everyone. Every day, we feel the effects of inflation as we fill our gas tanks or shop at the local grocery store. It is not in the news, but inflation and other macroeconomic factors also impact the insurance industry, especially the workers' compensation market.
The inflation rate started to grow in late 2021, continued in early 2022 and is projected to moderate by mid-2023. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of April 2022, the inflation number is 8.3%. Inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which calculates the average change over time of prices for consumer goods and services. The high inflation numbers are due to many factors, but an overheated economy mostly drives it due to the trillions of dollars of COVID-19 stimulus money in the economy.
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