Posts Tagged ‘unemployment’
Wishing for Wages
While the economic recovery will soon enter its fifth year, wage growth is invisible. In part, it’s because unemployment is high, but also because more and more jobs are in leisure/hospitality and retail. These two sectors now account for 21% of US employment, yet pay just $13/hour and $16/hour respectively. Manufacturing pays $23/hour, yet employs…
Read MoreAnemic Recovery
Following recessions this severe, economic recoveries are usually quite robust. But not this time. Why? Chronic lack of credit kills sales, depresses investment, and hurts productivity. Prolonged levels of high unemployment erode worker skills, making it hard for the unemployed to find work, shrinking the labor-force. Most importantly, crises stunt innovation, R&D, and the efficiency…
Read MoreNo Help Wanted
The labor market is suffering from sclerosis. While employers are no longer firing workers – the percentage of workers laid off or fired in 10/11 was lower than in ’07, before the recession – they also aren’t hiring. Similarly, few of the employed are quitting their jobs. Usually about 2% of all workers quit their…
Read MoreGDP for Higher
During Q3 ‘11 U.S. GDP finally exceeded the real pre-recession peak of total economic output recorded in Q4 ‘07. It took 15 quarters to offset the 5.1% decline in output during the Great Recession, 3 times the average number of quarters needed to reach the prior peak in other post-WWII recessions. The bigger problem, the…
Read MoreUnemployed and Well Slept
The Friday File: What do the involuntary unemployed do with their free time? Researchers find that about 40% of their “free” time is spent working in the home which includes cooking, doing laundry, shopping, home improvement projects, caring for elder parents etc… 30% of the time goes to sleeping longer and TV. Another 30% is…
Read MoreBrother Can you Spare a Job?
While some are unemployed by choice and some due to a lack of necessary skills, I do not think it’s that many. Here’s why. There are 14 million unemployed and 3.1 million job openings, or 4.6 jobless workers per opening. Prior to the recession the ratio was about 1.5. In only a few industries do…
Read MorePayroll Problems Persist
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a profoundly dismal 18K in June, way below the 125K gain expected by economists! Making things worse, job gains in May were revised down to 25K from 54K. The unemployment rate inched up by 0.1% to 9.2%. Government employment fell by 39K. If you include discouraged workers and those forced to…
Read MoreWeak in Review
Weak in Review: The latest jobless claims numbers are still troublesome. The key takeaway is that first time claims have now exceeded 400k for 10 weeks in a row and the four-week moving average is stuck at 425k. Moreover, the Philly Fed index at -7.7 along with the similar -7.8 print on the NY Empire,…
Read MoreExcellent Employment!
Hallelujah! The economy gained 244K jobs in April! Payroll data for Feb and March were also revised up by a combined 46K! Hiring in the private sector posted the largest increase in 5 years and was broad based! Ignore the rise in the unemployment rate to 9%. The bad news; gov’t employment fell 24K, avg…
Read MoreHome Equity
The fall in house prices and home equity have robbed fledging entreprenneurs of one of the most popular sources of funding; equity in their homes! This loss means fewer basement and garage start-ups in general and many fewer in the hardest hit states. As small business creates well over half of all new jobs our…
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