like, you know what, the bottom line that nobody is talking about is unemployment is at 3.5%. unemployment is like build the man camps in north dakota levels all over the country. unemployment hasn t been this low in 50 years. yes, there s other things going on in the economy, too, but isn t that something for the democrats to be running on? without a doubt they could be making the argument if you re struggling, there s not just a job out there, there could be two jobs. in battleground states, arizona, georgia, the jobs picture is even better. look at the port of savannah, booming. phoenix, arizona is going to be a huge beneficiary of the chips act. it has become a mini tech hub. they ve got very strong jobs pictures. that s something people can and should pay attention to. more than 2 million people who have already voted in the great state of carolina. the democrat who is hoping they voted for her is going to join us next. stay with us.
he has been an extraordinarily effective messenger. the question was, was it too late? i feel like when you say it is a complicated economy, that is obviously terrible political messaging. it is also true. i was just talking a friend the other day about the issue about the job situation in her small town in western new england. i was like, the bottom line, the thing everyone is talking about is, it is at 3. 5%. unemployment is at build the man camps in north dakota levels. unemployment hasn t been this low in 50 years. and yes, there s other things going on in the economy, but isn t that something for the democrats to be running on? without a doubt, they could be making the argument, if you are struggling, there s not just a job out there, there could be two jobs. some of these important battleground states in arizona in georgia, guess what? the jobs picture is even better. look at the port of savannah, blooming. phoenix, arizona is going to be a huge beneficiary of the ships act.
in what some traders call bear market territory. for the nasdaq, by the way, we are now down roughly 36%, 38% from the record highs we saw just last fall. so when you talk about the real-world implications of some of these inflation reads, the reason why it s so important is because it does affect the overall economy in america and what the federal reserve, america s central bank, has to do to get prices back under control. the issue now of course that we ve been talking about for some time now, weeks and mos, guys, is how that fed policy will affect the jobs picture. there s a delicate balance there, guys. cnbc s dom chu, thank you so much. amazon, which went sky-high during the pandemic, it dropped from a high, 52-week high, $188 to now down to the low $101, about $106 right now. but and of course facebook just completely collapsed.
participation rate not moving. you would think that hire inflation, higher costs for everything as you said. inflation at a 40-year high would be pushing people back into the workforce and looking for a job. the participation rate is the same at 62.2% for several months now. that is a concern. mark just mentioned next week s report. that will be critical. we have the cpi and the ppi out on wednesday and thursday next week and year-over-year we re talking about the ppi being above 10 1/2%. expected at 10.6%. cpi expected above 8%. that will the market mover. the morning we talk about a report that is continuing to generate job growth. the jobs picture has not changed all that much, even in the face of 40-year high inflation and gas prices where they are. i do not believe that gasoline and inflation has peaked at this point. i really do not see evidence of
the economy back in alignment. it s trying to cool off a hot economy by raising interest rates without being too aggressive about it that it sends the economy into a recession. some believe economic growth is already showing signs of slowing. case in point, last week we learned gdp unexpectedly contracted at a 1.4% annualized rate in the first three months of this year, though many do say the report was distorted by temporary factors and is actually masking the underlying strength in the economy like in the jobs sector. friday s jobs report showed employers added 428,000 jobs in april. the jobs growth there is impressive considering there s a shortage of workers to fill positions. the jobs picture is a perfect example of why the fed is concerned about parts of the economy that are overheating, adding to the inflation picture. on wall street, strong reports like that are piling on fear that the fed will have to do more work, meaning more aggressive or higher rate hikes.