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Crude oil prices are up 6% since Syria took center stage on 8/21/13. They had already risen 15% in the prior four months due to rising demand and a 2.7 million barrels/day (bbl/d) reduction in supply in August. But traditionally,…
One reason the labor force participation rate is so low is the explosive growth in those receiving Social Security Disability Insurance. Since 1980, the percentage of 20-64 year olds on SSDI grew from 2.3% to 4.7%. Half the rise is…
With a drop in the labor force participation rate to 63.2%, its lowest level since 8/78, the creation of only 169,000 net new jobs in August and revisions subtracting 74,000 new jobs in June and July, it’s now a toss-up…
The best news from the August employment report was that private payroll hours jumped 0.3%. While that seems small, had employers kept hours worked unchanged and hired more workers to do the added work, payrolls would have risen by 572,000…
The Friday File: Imagine having to choose one of three lotto tickets, two of which are worthless and one of which is valuable. Now suppose one of the two tickets not chosen is removed since the host knows it’s worthless.…
Obamacare will reduce demand for employees at firms with slightly less than 50 workers and for hires wanting more than 30 hours/week of work. It’ll also reduce the supply of labor. Now, many employees work for health insurance. Once insurance…
Middle class is defined as adults with household incomes between two-thirds and twice the national median, or between $40,000 and $120,000 today. In 1971, 61% of adults were middle class, 14% were upper class and 25% were lower class. Today,…
Ron Coase, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in economics, died yesterday at 102. He was best known for his research into transaction costs and how it influences firm size, and the observation that a lack of property rights increases…
The Friday File: Looking at both federally-mandated paid vacation and holidays among rich nations, Austria ranks number one with 35 days/year, Germany and Spain tie for second with 34, followed by Italy and France at 31, Belgium and New Zealand…
The most active Congress, as measured by the number of bills passed into law, excluding private bills, was the 84th (1955-1956) which passed 1,028 bills. Eisenhower (R) was President; Lyndon Johnson (D) was Senate Majority Leader and Sam Rayburn (D)…