Charting the World Economy: The U.S. Jobs Market Is On Fire

(Bloomberg) --

The last U.S. payrolls report of the decade was a doozy, beating expectations and doing its bit to keep the consumer in good health heading into 2020. That’s good news given the various pressures still weighing on global growth.

Here’s some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week, offering a pictorial insight into the latest developments in the global economy.

U.S.

U.S. job gains roared back in November as unemployment matched a half-century low and wages topped estimates, giving the Federal Reserve more reason to hold interest rates steady after three straight cuts.

West Virginia, a state President Donald Trump campaigned on reviving, is forecast to have the worst-performing economy in the nation over the next six months, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia data show.

Europe

If Berlin relents on calls to increase public spending, growth would be stronger at home and abroad, though Bloomberg Economics’ simulations suggest opening the fiscal floodgates wouldn’t transform the wider euro-area economy.

The death of the U.K. high street is hitting women the hardest. You’ll probably still hear a female voice at the grocery store checkout, but it’s increasingly likely to be a machine.

Asia

For years, researchers across the world have sought for a way to breed better-tasting, stronger, and faster-growing pigs. Now, in the wake of a devastating global outbreak of African swine fever, the more crucial need is to safeguard food security, and keep hogs alive.

Emerging Markets

For years, low inflation looked like a classic rich-world problem. Plenty of developing economies now have some version of it too.

When Alberto Fernandez takes over the Argentine presidency on Dec. 10, he will inherit an economy running short of dollars, with rampant inflation and rising poverty. He’ll probably have to renegotiate a $56 billion loan accord with the IMF, though the Fund has said it will withhold its next disbursement until there’s more clarity around his economic plan.

World

A decade of easy money has left the world with a record $250 trillion of government, corporate and household debt. That’s almost three times global economic output and equates to about $32,500 for every man, woman and child on earth.

Chinese students far out-stripped peers in every other country in a survey of reading, math and science ability, underscoring a reserve of future economic strength and the struggle of advanced economies to keep up.

--With assistance from Anya Andrianova, Enda Curran, Katia Dmitrieva, William Horobin, Lucy Meakin, Kristine Servando, Scott Squires, Alex Tanzi, Maeva Cousin (Economist) and Jamie Murray (Economist).

To contact the reporters on this story: Zoe Schneeweiss in London at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net;Vince Golle in Washington at vgolle@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, Fergal O'Brien

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