US unemployment & inflation rates

US unemployment (by all measures) are still higher than pre-recession levels and inflation are way lower, so is there any good reason for Fed to hike? Rather opposite: to postpone hikes to later date

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Employment & Unemployment

With an unemployment rate of 5,6%, according to BLS estimates from the latest payroll report, the economic situation in the US perfectly match the targets of the US Federal Reserve System on unemployment (near 6%) and an inflation rate (about 2%). It is interesting that some other countries (China, for example), fits into that criteria well enough too (look at the first bubble chart). It has to be said that unemployment rate of 6% does not mean that only 6% of the adult population do not work. In fact, speaking about US, more than 40% of adults is not employed (look at that employment to population ratio indicator from the World Bank data, showing overall burden on earners). And the "unemployment rate" shows only the fraction of the actually not employed who want to work and are looking for a job (according to International Labour Organization "unemployed person" definition). The number seems large, but compare it to one of the Greece, Spain or Italy, where the majority of working age population earns nothing. No wonder to see the debt of those countries skyrocketed.

Compare the countries and see the historical trend in unemployment rate and employment population ratio on the graph below the page.