Help Wanted Index

The Help Wanted Index has plunged since late winter. This appears to be solid evidence of slowing job growth, as well as slowing overall economic growth.

An additional sign of slowdown has begun to show up in state sales tax collections. The Liscio Report states that "just 37% of the states in our Survey met their forecasted sales tax collections, down from 51% in August," with the majority reporting, "wide misses, the worst of these coming in 2-8% below where they thought they would be."