Collier EBCS: Third Quarter 2023 Report
July 31, 2023 / RERI Research Team
The first half of 2023 is now over and neither the US nor Southwest Florida experienced some anticipated, yet elusive, recession. Labor market conditions remained strong, as the United States unemployment rate came in at 3.6 percent in June 2023, unchanged from the same month last year. Moreover, labor force participation rates in the nation also improved (62.6 percent in June 2023), albeit still below pre-Covid rate, while force participation level continues to trend up and above pre-Covid levels since August 2022. Preliminary results from the national consumer sentiment index were also positive, with the index rising to 72.6 in July 2023, 13 percent above the June 2023 figure and the highest since September 2021. Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, noted that “all components of the index improved considerably, led by a 19% surge in long-term business conditions and 16% increase in short-run business conditions.”