The slowing pace of job gains has been associated with a flattening out in the unemployment rate over the past year, along with a heartening 1/2 percentage point increase in the prime-age labor force participation rate.
The current wave of bank mergers has led to a substantial increase in bank concentration at the national level. For example, the percentage of banking assets controlled by the top 10 banking organizations rose from about 22 percent in 1980 to 34 percent in 1997. The percentage held by the top 25 increased from 33 to 53 percent.