The number of Americans currently unemployed is now half of what it was back in April, but still far above the 3.5% rate in February. Yet, wage growth is pretty strong and recent surveys show businesses have nearly 7 million unfilled jobs. How has the pandemic affected the U.S. worker shortage and how may immigration reform play a role in solving it?

Don’t look to a typical business cycle to explain the economic recovery from COVID-19. Instead, this week, we look at three trends involving the stock market, the job market and consumer activity and what they mean for national output.

Last week, the Federal Reserve announced it would tolerate inflation “moderately” above its 2% target—why did the central bank do this now and what does it mean for financial markets? Also this week: signs of a consumer-driven Q3 GDP surge and a snapshot of the state of the job market.

After remaining dormant for more than a decade, the U.S. housing sector has roared back to life in the middle a pandemic and an economic crisis. This week we take a look at what may be contributing to this residential real estate tailwind, including: favorable aggregate income trends, low mortgage rates and demographic shifts.

Colleges and universities contribute up to 4% of U.S. GDP when you add up tuition costs, room and board, NCAA revenues and research dollars—virtual classrooms and cancelled sporting events will likely have a big impact on the higher education sector this fall. Also this week: a look at the strained finances of states and local communities due to COVID-19 disruptions.

What does the state of the job market in July tell us about the broader U.S. economy? Also this week: Why the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is starting to shrink and how the Fed is changing the way it manages inflation.

Last week’s historic GDP report—showing a 32.9% annualized drop—drove a lot of news headlines, which at the surface-level, didn’t tell us much about where the economy is headed. Let’s dig a little deeper into the report and unearth four additional nuggets of data that may provide some answers about the months ahead.

In this special edition of Economic Take, Jim speaks with Fiona Greig, Director of Consumer Research at the JPMorgan Chase Institute, about a new report on the impact unemployment insurance has had on consumer spending and the U.S. economy since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Efforts to contain the latest flare-up of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. will probably not result in the same economic upheaval of March and April. Meanwhile, retail sales, the CPI, manufacturing output and housing starts in June all provide a favorable impression of the state of the recovery.

In the last couple of weeks, several populous states, including Florida, Texas and California, have experienced flare-ups in COVID-19 cases. Despite this, the stock market continues to rise and is once again near February’s historic highs. Is the market losing touch with economic reality or are investors seeing real silver linings?