The Federal Reserve Bank of New York s Center for Microeconomic Data released the March 2021 SCE Labor Market Survey, which shows among the respondents who were employed four months ago, 97.3 percent were still employed in March 2021, compared to 95.3 percent in November 2020 and 89.1 percent in March 2020.
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The increase was primarily due to a decline in transitions out of the labor force (which fell to 1.3 percent in March 2021 from 4.0 percent in November 2020).
The proportion of individuals who reported searching for a job in the past four weeks rebounded to 20.3 percent in March 2021 from 17.8 percent in November 2020. The increase was primarily driven by women.
February 2021 Credit Access Survey Improves
The February 2021 survey shows most credit application and acceptance rates improving from the last survey.
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Survey:
Experiences
The rate of applying for one or several types of credit over the past twelve months rebounded to 45 percent in February 2021 from 35 percent in October 2020. The increase was broad-based across loan types and credit score groups, although it was largest for mortgage refinance applications.
The mortgage refinance application rate reached a new series high of 25 percent (of households with a mortgage), up from 16 percent in October 2020.
The overall rejection rate for credit rose slightly from 18 percent to 19 percent, the highest reading since October 2018. Rejection rates for new credit card applications and for requests for credit card limit increases reached new series highs, while those for auto loans were at a series low.