Econ70
Residential construction employment rose by 8,500 in May and by 149,000 over the past year. The steepest annual wage growth among construction workers was for heavy and civil engineering construction at 5.1%, next came residential building at 4.8%. Moreover, the…
May’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 17.8 million vehicles, the best since 7/05, was terrific! Moreover, the average sales price was $33,363 a rise of 4.3% since 5/14. Fewer fleet sales helped, but low gas prices caused elevated truck…
After reaching a high of 121.9 million in November 2007, the ranks of the full-time employed plummeted to a cyclical low of 111.0 million in October 2009, a loss of 10.7 million jobs. Today, the number of full-time workers is…
May’s employment data was excellent! Payrolls rose by 280,000, upward revisions were made to prior months, and because the labor force participation rate grew 0.1% for the second month in a row, the unemployment rate increase from 5.4% to 5.5%…
The Friday File: While American Pharoah is a 3-5 favorite to win the Belmont Stakes and in the process be the first winner of the Triple Crown since 1978, he has a tough road. The Belmont is the longest race…
Despite being about to begin the seventh year of an economic recovery, GDP growth has averaged a lackluster 2.2% the entire time, profoundly lower than in previous recoveries. The reason, a combination of slow labor force growth, primarily due to…
After recording negative Q1 GDP growth for the third time in five years, the Commerce Department is convinced its seasonal adjustment factors are working poorly. Therefore, they will revise recent quarterly GDP growth numbers, but annual GDP growth will remain…
After topping out at almost 1,600 oil rigs back in October 2014, oil exploration plummeted along with rig counts, which now number just 646. That said, current week-to-week rig count declines are trivial, going from a peak weekly decline of…
While Q1 GDP was revised down from +0.2% to -0.7% due to falling exports, rising imports, slower inventory growth, weak corporate spending on plant and intellectual property, and dismal spending on durable goods, residential construction activity was up a healthy…
The Friday file: While thought since 1917 to result from carbon dioxide being released by bacteria, repeated CT scans of Swiss cheese during its entire 130 day ripening period convincingly show that its distinctive holes are a result of microscopically…