Dean’s Speaker Series: Daniel Zhao
Drawing on Glassdoor employee sentiment and workplace review data, Glassdoor Chief Economist Daniel Zhao examined how recent workplace shifts have reshaped worker priorities, confidence and job security.
employment
The Fed’s New Test
Research Fellow Christian Lundblad discussed a surprising jobs number and a complicated time for the Fed, as the possibility of an oil-driven increase in the inflation rate looms over future interest rate decisions.
Economic Risk in the Age of AI and Escalation
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen discusses an unexpected decline in jobs and potential economic effects of artificial intelligence and the Middle East conflict in our March briefing.
Economic Health Risks?
Research Director Camelia Kuhnen gave her analysis of the morning’s new employment numbers and the US economic picture at the institute's February briefing.
New Jobs Data and the 2026 Economic Outlook
Chief Economist Gerald Cohen saw reason for concern in the December employment numbers and previewed his Five Economic Trends for 2026 piece. He also answered questions on productivity growth and reductions in the federal workforce.
New Jobs Data and the 2026 Economic Outlook: January Economic Briefing
Join us at 9 AM EST Friday, January 9, as Chief Economist Gerald Cohen examines fresh employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and previews his Five Trends commentary in our monthly economic briefing.
Dealing with Data Uncertainty
With government economic data reports only beginning to resume, institute Research Fellow Greg Brown looked at a variety of available indicators pointing in different directions and the theory that “the economy is actually pretty strong.”
Filling the Data Gap: November Economic Briefing
The government shutdown has slowed the flow of economic data out of Washington to a trickle. Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen will look at available indicators to fill the gap during the institute’s monthly briefing at 9 AM EST Friday, November 7.
The Shutdown Edition
With the government shut down, there was no new employment report to analyze for our October briefing, but institute Research Fellow Greg Brown ran through his “U.S. Economy Scoreboard,” examining available economic indicators.
Jobs Report: A Moment of Clarity?
Research Fellow Christian Lundblad saw more "muckiness" than clarity as he analyzed fresh employment numbers in addition to several other date drops from the week leading up to the institute's August briefing.
Tariffs and Deportations
Research Economist Sarah Dickerson shared news of healthy jobs numbers from June and looked at the effects of a decrease in foreign-born workers on new home construction.
Policymaking, Fast and Slow
In the institute's June briefing, Chief Economist Gerald Cohen reviewed the morning’s employment report for May and examined a number of economic indices for potential effects from recent policy changes.
Policymaking, Fast and Slow: June Economic Briefing
Kenan Institute Chief Economist Gerald Cohen will evaluate the morning’s employment data in the context of new policy during the latest monthly economic briefing at 9 AM EDT Friday, June 6.
Job Growth Fails To Ease Consumers’ Gloom
Despite positive labor market indicators, consumer sentiment has declined steadily in 2025 as fears of inflation rise. The result could be a reduction in consumer spending.
Not-So-Great Expectations
In the institute’s May 2 briefing, Research Economist Sarah Dickerson reviewed another surprisingly solid employment report, weighing it with falling consumer confidence and a raft of other indicators both positive and negative in an effort to get clarity on the future of the economy.
Consumers’ Darkening Mood
In the institute's April 4 briefing, Research Director Camelia Kuhnen dissected consumer confidence and sentiment data with an emphasis on growing pessimism among young people and answered questions on potential economic effects of new tariffs.
A Hard Look at the Hard Data
For the institute's March 7 briefing, Chief Economist Gerald Cohen discussed an encouragingly “benign” employment report and discussed “animal spirits,” the slower growth of inflation-adjusted wages, and potential effects of tariffs across the economy.
Effects of Policy Uncertainty
In the institute's February 7 briefing, Research Fellow Greg Brown analyzed the morning's employment report and discussed how the unpredictability of changes rippling through Washington could impact the US economy.
Trends to Watch for 2025
In the institute's January 10 briefing, Chief Economist Gerald Cohen discussed the morning's employment report and shared his thoughts on some top-of-mind issues for business executives and policymakers this year.
Season of Good Cheer?
For our December 6 economic briefing, Kenan Institute Research Director Camelia Kuhnen discussed the morning's employment report, which showed a bounce back from October's numbers, and the rise in the level of consumer confidence in recent months.
Time for a Confidence Check: May Press Briefing
Do employment and wage growth numbers line up with consumer confidence? It's time for a confidence check with Kenan Institute Research Director Camelia Kuhnen during this month's virtual economic briefing at 9 a.m. EDT this Friday, May 3.
Going to Extremes: March Economic Briefing
Join Chief Economist Gerald Cohen for the institute’s monthly virtual briefing at 9 a.m. EST this Friday, March 8, to discuss the morning's employment report and the latest economic data.
Microeconomies in 2024: Navigating Uncertainty
American Growth Project models project that all 150 of the top Extended Metropolitan Areas will see slower growth in 2024 than they did last year and that 56 of them will contract. See what else the data tell us.
Inflation’s Next Move: December Press Briefing
Join us for the Kenan Institute’s monthly virtual press briefing at 9 a.m. EDT this Friday, Dec. 8, as professor and former executive director Greg Brown shares his thoughts on where inflation may be headed from here.
Growth, the Job Market and U.S. Consumers: Watch the Briefing
An advance estimate shows the U.S. economy growing nearly 5% during the third quarter. Join Research Director Camelia Kuhnen in a virtual press briefing at 9 a.m. EDT this Friday, Nov. 3, for more on this and the morning's employment report.
May 25, 2026
Employability Skills Gap Webinar: Addressing the Needs of Opportunity Youth – WATCH THE WEBINAR
Join us for the Employability Skills Gap webinar on Oct. 18 at 10 a.m. Dive into the final session of ncIMPACT Initiative's 'Where are the Workers?' series for insights and discussion on workforce needs.
Where are the Workers?
“Every business I enter is looking for employees” was a common refrain in our Carolina Across 100 survey, with 79% of the total survey sample selecting employment/staffing concerns among their top three negative impacts of COVID-19 on their organization. Is the staffing shortage just a function of COVID-19 that will correct itself as COVID abates or are there larger demographic and economic forces at work? The answer is a bit of both.
Should we worry about a wage-price spiral?
The jumps in the inflation rate over the last few months have been larger and longer-lasting than expected. For much of 2022 economic forecasters, including those at the Federal Reserve, assumed that higher inflation rates would be short-lived—or “transitory” using the preferred jargon of the day. Inflation was expected to start shifting back towards the Fed’s 2% target as supply-chain bottlenecks were resolved and a pandemic-induced shift in demand for consumer goods swung back toward consumer services. Instead, recent inflation prints have set 40-year records and we are seeing more discussion about the possibility of a “wage-price” spiral.
Five Economic Challenges in 2022
As we begin the new year, we wanted to highlight five topics, beyond the impact of COVID-19 and related uncertainties, that we believe businesspeople and policy makers will be grappling with in 2022. Throughout the year, we will focus our efforts to provide solutions-focused analysis on these topics as well as a host of others.
U.S. Employment: Labor Shortage or Post-pandemic Labor Pains?
The current narrative around the U.S. labor market is a mixed bag. On the one hand, many companies are struggling to find enough workers to return to a semblance of normal operations. On the other, 8 million fewer Americans were employed in April 2021 as compared to February 2020. We asked three experts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — Christian Lundblad, Director of Research, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Richard "Dick" Levin Distinguished Professor of Finance, Area Chair of Finance and Associate Dean of the Ph.D. program, Kenan-Flagler Business School; Luca Flabbi, Associate Professor of Economics; and Paige Ouimet, Professor of Finance, Kenan-Flagler Business School — to weigh in on the critical issues behind this dichotomy.
The “Global-K” Recovery
The 2020 U.S. economic downturn fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic generated both big losers (such as restaurants and the hospitality sector) and big winners (such as high tech and online retail), leading economic commentators to call the recession “K-shaped.” As the pandemic evolves in 2021, this K-shaped recovery will go global; though some countries, notably the U.S. and China, are securely tethered to the largest economic booster rocket ever built, a sizable swath of the world will continue to suffer weak growth.
COVID Ended a Decade-long Economic Expansion in North Carolina. Now What?
2020 brought an end to North Carolina’s decade-long economic expansion that began in 2010 after the Great Recession. It has now been a year since COVID-19 arrived on U.S. shores, and we can see some changes clearly, while others are just starting to emerge from the haze. It will likely be years before we fully grasp the myriad ways COVID-19 has affected the nation’s and the state’s economies. Now seems like a good time to take stock of the fallout from 2020, the trends we’re seeing a year into the crisis and where things are starting to turn around for North Carolina.