The Labor Department reported today that employers added 236,000 jobs in February, helping to lower the unemployment rate to 7.7%. Overall, the U.S. economy has lost 8.8 million jobs since the advent of the financial crisis, and has only generated 5.6 million jobs in the same period. The 3.2 million job diffrence is what is responsible for low savings and CD rates. For savers, the unemployment rate is the single most important indicator, since the Fed has pegged raising rates to the metric. The Fed has stated it will keep rates low until unemployment falls below 6.5%.
For more information on the impact of the Fed and other economic indicators on savings rates, please read the weekly Savings and CD Rate Update column. To access the latest update, click here.
