US pay growth is pathetic and expected to stay that way
American paychecks continue to look skimpy, according to the latest report on incomes and spending, which the US Commerce Department just shoved out the door....
Adjusted for inflation, American wage growth still looks pretty weak. In March it clocked in at 1.9%. That’s better than the decreases seen during the worst of the recession and its aftermath. But it sure ain’t great. During the housing boom years, wage growth spent plenty of time above 3.5%. And during the 1990s, it was ridiculous, topping out above 8% in June of 1998.
----
Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-pay-growth-pathetic-expected-141515048.html
-------------------
NYT: As Jobs Lag, Fed ... Unlikely to Do More
The Federal Reserve is making modest progress in its push to reduce the unemployment rate. But that is not the jobs goal Congress actually established for the Fed. The central bank is supposed to be maximizing employment. And on that front, it is not making progress.
The share of American adults with jobs has hovered around 58.5 percent for more than three years, roughly five percentage points below its prerecession peak.
Job creation has merely kept pace with population growth. The unemployment rate, now 7.6 percent, has fallen mostly because people stopped looking for work.
---------
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/business/economy/fed-unlikely-to-expand-asset-purchases
--------------------------
CNBC: the Jobs Outlook Just Got a Whole Lot Worse
Weak corporate top-line growth is likely to spell an equally troubled bottom line for the 11.7 million unemployed....
"The loss of momentum in the U.S. economy has been palpable, but what looks to be a soft patch in yet another 2 percent year for real economic growth now has the potential to morph into something more painful," RBC Capital Markets economists Tom Porcelli and Jacob Oubina said in a report.
In such an environment, companies unable to expand their top lines likely will focus on cutting expenses to achieve profits.
"What is important to consider on the back of these results is that employment tends to become the victim of a disappointing revenue backdrop," RBC said. "In other words, headcount tends to become the focus in any effort to extract savings and boost bottom line results."
---
Link:http://www.cnbc.com/id/100684601
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Friday, August 3, 2012
Why Did Unemployment Rate Increase?
From the WSJ.com:
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in July and a broader measure ticked up to 15%, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs.
Why the increase?
The key reason is because the two numbers come from separate reports. The number of jobs added — the 163,000 figure — comes from a survey of business, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households.... the household survey was telling a darker tale than the poll of establishments...
150,000 people left the labor force, lowering what is known as the participation rate...
A further worrying sign came in the count of persons counted as employed, which fell by 195,000 last month.
Meanwhile, the broader unemployment rate, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, was up to 15% in July....
In July, the increase in the U-6 rate was driven by a jump in both the number of part-time workers who would prefer a full-time job and the number of discouraged workers.
------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/08/03/why-did-unemployment-rate-increase/
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in July and a broader measure ticked up to 15%, even as the economy added 163,000 jobs.
Why the increase?
The key reason is because the two numbers come from separate reports. The number of jobs added — the 163,000 figure — comes from a survey of business, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of U.S. households.... the household survey was telling a darker tale than the poll of establishments...
150,000 people left the labor force, lowering what is known as the participation rate...
A further worrying sign came in the count of persons counted as employed, which fell by 195,000 last month.
Meanwhile, the broader unemployment rate, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, was up to 15% in July....
In July, the increase in the U-6 rate was driven by a jump in both the number of part-time workers who would prefer a full-time job and the number of discouraged workers.
------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/08/03/why-did-unemployment-rate-increase/
Thursday, August 2, 2012
U.S. recovery weakest in the world since 1970
From James Pethokoukis blogging at AEI-ideas.org :
The Obama administration says one reason the U.S. economic recovery has been so slow is that it is still suffering from the aftermath of the financial crisis. But the U.S. is not the first country to suffer a recession and a financial crisis. And the U.S. recovery is doing worse than all of them.
In a new research note, JPMorgan points out that since 1970, Japan, Finland and Sweden have all gone through what the U.S. is currently going through. And all three of them had recoveries stronger than America’s....
--------
Link: http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/07/u-s-recovery-weakest-of-any-in-the-world-since-1970/
The Obama administration says one reason the U.S. economic recovery has been so slow is that it is still suffering from the aftermath of the financial crisis. But the U.S. is not the first country to suffer a recession and a financial crisis. And the U.S. recovery is doing worse than all of them.
In a new research note, JPMorgan points out that since 1970, Japan, Finland and Sweden have all gone through what the U.S. is currently going through. And all three of them had recoveries stronger than America’s....
--------
Link: http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/07/u-s-recovery-weakest-of-any-in-the-world-since-1970/
Under-Employment rate much, much worse
From the Real Time Economics blog at the WSJ.com:
While it’s the government’s unemployment rate that moves headlines every month — the latest, for July, comes out Friday — the “under-employment” rate, or “U-6” rate, includes everyone else affected by the moribund job market: people who want to work but haven’t looked in the last four weeks because they figured no jobs were available and those working part-time gigs but would prefer full-time positions.
(By the way, the government’s number-crunchers prefer “four-quarter moving averages” when it comes to state data because of it’s smaller sample size. By taking in longer time spans, the government may boost the reliability of the findings.)....
Michigan (4 quarter average)
Unemployment: 9.4%
UNDER-employment: 17.4%
Difference: + 8.0
-------
Link: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/lau/stalt.htm
While it’s the government’s unemployment rate that moves headlines every month — the latest, for July, comes out Friday — the “under-employment” rate, or “U-6” rate, includes everyone else affected by the moribund job market: people who want to work but haven’t looked in the last four weeks because they figured no jobs were available and those working part-time gigs but would prefer full-time positions.
(By the way, the government’s number-crunchers prefer “four-quarter moving averages” when it comes to state data because of it’s smaller sample size. By taking in longer time spans, the government may boost the reliability of the findings.)....
Michigan (4 quarter average)
Unemployment: 9.4%
UNDER-employment: 17.4%
Difference: + 8.0
-------
Link: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/lau/stalt.htm
Weak Labor Report Fans Fears
From online.WSJ.com:
U.S. employers added 80,000 jobs in June, barely better than the 77,000 they added in May. The monthly report from the Labor Department provided the clearest evidence yet that job growth has slowed sharply from earlier this year. The U.S. gained just 225,000 jobs in the past three months combined, making it the weakest quarter of job growth since the labor market began to recover in 2010. The unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2%.
The report echoes recent data that suggest the U.S. economy is losing steam. This week, the Institute for Supply Management said the manufacturing sector contracted in June for the first time since the first month of the recovery in July 2009. ...
-------
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303962304577510461710030258.html
U.S. employers added 80,000 jobs in June, barely better than the 77,000 they added in May. The monthly report from the Labor Department provided the clearest evidence yet that job growth has slowed sharply from earlier this year. The U.S. gained just 225,000 jobs in the past three months combined, making it the weakest quarter of job growth since the labor market began to recover in 2010. The unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2%.
The report echoes recent data that suggest the U.S. economy is losing steam. This week, the Institute for Supply Management said the manufacturing sector contracted in June for the first time since the first month of the recovery in July 2009. ...
-------
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303962304577510461710030258.html
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Broader Jobless Rate Ticks Up to 14.9%
From the WSJ.com:
The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2% in June but a broader measure rose to 14.9% as the ranks of the underemployed grew.
The jobless rate was unchanged even at the number of people who consider themselves employed jumped by 128,000...
Meanwhile, the broader unemployment rate, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, was up even higher in June. The U-6 figure includes everyone in the official rate plus “marginally attached workers” — those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that’s all they could find....
--------------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/06/broader-jobless-rate-ticks-up-to-14-9/
The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2% in June but a broader measure rose to 14.9% as the ranks of the underemployed grew.
The jobless rate was unchanged even at the number of people who consider themselves employed jumped by 128,000...
Meanwhile, the broader unemployment rate, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, was up even higher in June. The U-6 figure includes everyone in the official rate plus “marginally attached workers” — those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that’s all they could find....
--------------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/06/broader-jobless-rate-ticks-up-to-14-9/
Disability Ranks Outpace New Jobs
From Investor's Business Daily online:
More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.
The economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But that same month, 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration....
Other indicators show that the three-year-old economic recovery isn't producing jobs in adequate numbers:
The unemployment rate has been above 8% for 41 consecutive months. In the previous 60 years, the jobless topped 8% in a total of only 39 months.
The number of people with jobs is still nearly 5 million below its pre-recession peak.
The number of long-term unemployed — those out of work 27 weeks or more — is still 5.4 million — almost 1 million higher than when the recovery began...
--------------
Link: http://news.investors.com/article/617233/201207061636/disability-climbs-faster-than-jobs-under-obama.htm?p=full
More workers joined the federal government's disability program in June than got new jobs, according to two new government reports, a clear indicator of how bleak the nation's jobs picture is after three full years of economic recovery.
The economy created just 80,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. But that same month, 85,000 workers left the workforce entirely to enroll in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to the Social Security Administration....
Other indicators show that the three-year-old economic recovery isn't producing jobs in adequate numbers:
The unemployment rate has been above 8% for 41 consecutive months. In the previous 60 years, the jobless topped 8% in a total of only 39 months.
The number of people with jobs is still nearly 5 million below its pre-recession peak.
The number of long-term unemployed — those out of work 27 weeks or more — is still 5.4 million — almost 1 million higher than when the recovery began...
--------------
Link: http://news.investors.com/article/617233/201207061636/disability-climbs-faster-than-jobs-under-obama.htm?p=full
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Sluggish Economy Plagues Europe
From the WSJ.com:
Euro-zone manufacturing activity contracted sharply in June and unemployment hit a record, in the latest sign that Europe's economic problems are worsening amid the region's debt crisis and a broader global slowdown.
The data put added pressure on the European Central Bank to reduce its key interest rate when it meets Thursday, a move that would bring the euro bloc's monetary policy into expansionary territory unmatched even in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008....
----------
Link: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-economy.html
Euro-zone manufacturing activity contracted sharply in June and unemployment hit a record, in the latest sign that Europe's economic problems are worsening amid the region's debt crisis and a broader global slowdown.
The data put added pressure on the European Central Bank to reduce its key interest rate when it meets Thursday, a move that would bring the euro bloc's monetary policy into expansionary territory unmatched even in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008....
----------
Link: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-economy.html
Monday, July 2, 2012
Manufacturing shrinks: first time in three years
From Reuters.com:
U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years as new orders plummeted, one measure of the sector that showed the starkest sign yet of the extent of the slowdown in the economy....
It was the first time since July 2009 that the index has fallen below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction. That was shortly after the U.S. economy emerged from recession.
Manufacturing has been one of the drivers of the U.S. economic recovery, which now appears to be losing momentum over fears about the euro zone's debt crisis, a slowdown in China and uncertainty over domestic fiscal policy.
-----------------
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-usa-economy-manufacturing-idUSBRE8610QT20120702
U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years as new orders plummeted, one measure of the sector that showed the starkest sign yet of the extent of the slowdown in the economy....
It was the first time since July 2009 that the index has fallen below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction. That was shortly after the U.S. economy emerged from recession.
Manufacturing has been one of the drivers of the U.S. economic recovery, which now appears to be losing momentum over fears about the euro zone's debt crisis, a slowdown in China and uncertainty over domestic fiscal policy.
-----------------
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-usa-economy-manufacturing-idUSBRE8610QT20120702
U.S. hires Private Lawyers to grab Bank Account of 1st Grade teacher for loan default
From Bloomberg.com:
Lawyers drained Linda Brice’s bank account and seized a quarter of her take-home pay, or more than $900 a month. Brice, a first-grade teacher and Coast Guard veteran, begged for mercy, saying she couldn’t afford food, gas or utilities.
Brice’s transgression: she defaulted on $3,100 she had borrowed more than 30 years ago to pay for college. The chief federal judge in Los Angeles took her side, ruling that Brice should pay only $25 a month. The law firm of Goldsmith & Hull -- representing the federal government -- then withdrew $2,496 from her bank account.
“I am at the end of my rope,” Brice wrote in a May 2009 court filing. “I apologize for taking the court’s time, but I simply do not know what to do....”
When the U.S. Education Department fails to get repaid, the agency can turn borrowers’ names over to federal prosecutors. In turn, U.S. attorneys are hiring private law firms to retrieve money for taxpayers -- after the firms keep a cut for themselves....
----------------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/teacher-s-wages-garnished-as-u-s-goes-after-loan-default.html
Lawyers drained Linda Brice’s bank account and seized a quarter of her take-home pay, or more than $900 a month. Brice, a first-grade teacher and Coast Guard veteran, begged for mercy, saying she couldn’t afford food, gas or utilities.
Brice’s transgression: she defaulted on $3,100 she had borrowed more than 30 years ago to pay for college. The chief federal judge in Los Angeles took her side, ruling that Brice should pay only $25 a month. The law firm of Goldsmith & Hull -- representing the federal government -- then withdrew $2,496 from her bank account.
“I am at the end of my rope,” Brice wrote in a May 2009 court filing. “I apologize for taking the court’s time, but I simply do not know what to do....”
When the U.S. Education Department fails to get repaid, the agency can turn borrowers’ names over to federal prosecutors. In turn, U.S. attorneys are hiring private law firms to retrieve money for taxpayers -- after the firms keep a cut for themselves....
----------------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/teacher-s-wages-garnished-as-u-s-goes-after-loan-default.html
Factory slump in Asia - more to come?
From Reuters.com:
A factory slump in Asia's two biggest exporters China and Japan deepened in June as crumbling orders from abroad dragged activity to seven-month lows, heightening worries that the health of the global economy is deteriorating.
...The data increases the risk that the economies of major demand centers Europe and the United States may be weaker than previously thought. Purchasing managers' reports on the two regions are due to be published later on Monday.
The latest sign that China's economy is struggling came on Monday with a private purchasing managers' index (PMI) showing factory activity shrank at its fastest pace in seven months in June....
-----------
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-global-economy-idUSBRE86107X20120702
A factory slump in Asia's two biggest exporters China and Japan deepened in June as crumbling orders from abroad dragged activity to seven-month lows, heightening worries that the health of the global economy is deteriorating.
...The data increases the risk that the economies of major demand centers Europe and the United States may be weaker than previously thought. Purchasing managers' reports on the two regions are due to be published later on Monday.
The latest sign that China's economy is struggling came on Monday with a private purchasing managers' index (PMI) showing factory activity shrank at its fastest pace in seven months in June....
-----------
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-global-economy-idUSBRE86107X20120702
Friday, June 29, 2012
Consumer Spending Stalls
from Bloomberg.com:
Consumer spending stalled in May as stagnant wages and slackening employment held back the biggest part of the U.S. economy.
Purchases were little changed after a 0.1 percent rise the prior month that was smaller than initially reported, according to Commerce Department figures issued today in Washington....
---------------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-29/u-s-consumer-spending-unchanged-in-may-weakest-in-six-months.html
______________________
From the WSJ.com:
Consumers Become More Pessimistic
U.S. consumers were more worried about the economy at the end of June than they were last month, according to data released Friday....
Consumers are benefiting from a decline in gasoline prices, but they are worried about weaker labor markets and financial-market volatility caused by uncertainty about the euro-zone debt crisis...
The sentiment drop clouds the outlook for the important consumer sector which accounts for the bulk of U.S. economic activity. Earlier Friday, the government reported household spending was flat in May....
------------------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/06/29/consumers-become-more-pessimistic/
Consumer spending stalled in May as stagnant wages and slackening employment held back the biggest part of the U.S. economy.
Purchases were little changed after a 0.1 percent rise the prior month that was smaller than initially reported, according to Commerce Department figures issued today in Washington....
---------------
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-29/u-s-consumer-spending-unchanged-in-may-weakest-in-six-months.html
______________________
From the WSJ.com:
Consumers Become More Pessimistic
U.S. consumers were more worried about the economy at the end of June than they were last month, according to data released Friday....
Consumers are benefiting from a decline in gasoline prices, but they are worried about weaker labor markets and financial-market volatility caused by uncertainty about the euro-zone debt crisis...
The sentiment drop clouds the outlook for the important consumer sector which accounts for the bulk of U.S. economic activity. Earlier Friday, the government reported household spending was flat in May....
------------------
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/06/29/consumers-become-more-pessimistic/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)