The demand for money and money-like assets remains elevated as indicated in the figure below. This means nominal spending remains depressed. Until this changes we shouldn’t be surprised by employment reports like the one we got today.
Update: Here is the household sector’s money and money-like assets as a percent of total household assets plotted against the same civilian-employment population ratio. The money and money-like assets include the following: cash, checking account funds, time and saving account funds, money market funds, and treasury securities.
