Another Weekend of Mass Layoffs
Challenger, Gray said planned layoffs announced in September were up more than 200% from a year earlier to 115,000. That figure appears to be on the rise, and the latest layoffs, or corporate plans…
Economy
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Newest first · Page 356Americans Who Have Trouble Buying Food
ChartMore Americans have trouble providing food to their families than the Chinese do. That is extraordinary news because the U.S. is the world’s leading consumer economy and China is only considered an emerging one.…
UK Unemployment Hits 15-Year High as Austerity Plans Falter
The principle but opposed beliefs about austerity are 1) that budget cuts balance national books and 2) that they kill the stimulation necessary to rekindle economic growth during and after a recession. UK employment…
The “Recovery” Has Done Nothing to Help Wages
The economic “recovery” in the U.S. has not helped the income of most Americans. That seems counterintuitive. A recession is supposed to depress pay, and pay is supposed to rebound in a recovery. But,…
Consumer Spending Craters in September
Chart Consumer spending moved down fairly sharply in September. It is not just a sign of slowing. If a new Gallup tracking poll is right, improvements in consumer activity that occurred in late 2010…
Why Wall St. Does Not Care About Protests
People who think investment bankers make too much money have converged on Wall St. to protest that executives there earn millions and they do not. Bankers who barely survived the credit crisis and the…
ISM Manufacturing Supports Slow Growth Over Recession
The Institute for Supply Management showed an above-red reading this morning in the manufacturing sector. This month’s ISM Manufacturing reading came in at 51.6% for September versus 50.6% in August. Bloomberg was calling for…
Obama to Sell $22 Billion in U.S. Assets, a Drop in the Bucket
The Obama administration has suggested the U.S. sell $22 billion in “unwanted” assets over the next decade to raise money. That is such a small figure that it is hardly worth mentioning. To put…
Bernanke Throws $400 Billion at ‘The Twist’
Ben Bernanke and friends at the FOMC gave their decision on interest rates today. As you would expect, there was little that could be formally done with Fed Funds at the near-0%, but the…
U.S. Income: The Lost Decade Just Ended and the One About to Begin
Several economists have described the past 10 years of the U.S. economy as a “lost decade” for the middle and lower classes. Very little has been said about the decade ahead, which is on…
Obama Stimulus Undermined by Public Sector Layoffs
The American Jobs Act, which will cost $447 billion to create employment, may be offset by the drive of local, state and even federal governments to balance their books. President Obama’s proposal may help…
Another Fed President Signals Recession
One by one, Federal Reserve regional presidents have begun to admit that another recession has started, or at least is on the horizon. Some have made suggestions about what can be done, but none…
Why an Infrastructure Jobs Bank Won’t Work
One of the core proposals President Obama will make to Congress this week is the creation of an infrastructure bank that will provide funds to repair tens of thousands of miles of U.S. roads…
California’s Desperate Jobs Market And Worse: All Unemployment Is Local
The California jobs market is as bad as it has been for six decades. But, its plight is better than that of many smaller regions, as measured by both unemployment and housing. One problem…
Unemployment and Obama — All Joblessness Is Local
President Obama is set to unveil his new jobs packages. They are meant to bring down unemployment from above 9%, where it has been since just after the start of the recession. His probable…