Category Archives: Consumers

More Job Creation Coming

Popular Economics Weekly Wrightson-ICAP The number of job openings reached a series high of 7.3 million on the last business day of December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed … Continue reading →

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Can U.S. Economy Weather Trade Wars?

Financial FAQs Econoday.com Why is manufacturing doing so well in the face of rising tariffs—in January when mid-winter business activity tends to slow? Consumers flush with cash from rising wages and full employment are powering higher domestic demand. Exports, on … Continue reading →

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Very Strong January Employment

Popular Economics Weekly MarketWatch.com Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 304,000 in January, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in several industries, including leisure and hospitality, construction, … Continue reading →

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Best Wage and Benefit Rise in 11 Years

Financial FAQs MarketWatch.com Workers’ wages and benefits are finally rising at a decent clip from being fully employed, said the Labor Department. Total compensation, including health and pension benefits, rose in 2018 2.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in 2017. … Continue reading →

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What is a Living Wage?

Answering the Kennedys Call The Washington Post published a recent interview with new Democratic House Member Alexandria Octavia-Cortez in which she said, “I think it’s wrong that a vast majority of the country doesn’t make a living wage, I think … Continue reading →

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What Happened to Consumers’ Confidence?

Financial FAQs http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/ Consumer sentiment declined in early January to its lowest level since Trump was elected, reported the December U. of Michigan sentiment survey. It’s down for a number of reasons—too many reasons, and economists are consequently beginning to … Continue reading →

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Why Falling Home Sales?

The Mortgage Corner Econoday.com Total existing-home sales, https://www.nar.realtor/existing-home-completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, decreased 6.4 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.99 million in December. Sales are now down 10.3 percent from a … Continue reading →

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A Week of Conflicting Growth Signals

Popular Economics Weekly Econoday How do we reconcile the fact that industrial production in 2018 was very good, probably due to producers stocking up before more new tariffs are announced, and consumer sentiment has plunged to a 2-year low because … Continue reading →

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Is There Too Little Inflation?

Financial FAQs The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.1 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis after being unchanged in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Over the last 12 months, the … Continue reading →

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America’s Immigration Problem

Popular Economics Weekly CalculatedRiskBlog The Calculated Risk graph says it best in the Labor Department’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). There are still about one million more job openings (yellow line) than hires (blue line). There have … Continue reading →

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