Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsThe U.S. Labor Department is out with the December 2012 unemployment rate and with the payrolls report. Unemployment rose to 7.8% in December, and November was revised to 7.8% from…
ThinkstockTen states ushered in the New Year with an increase to their minimum wages. The federal minimum wage has not increased since it was raised to $7.25 an hour in July 2009. At the…
ThinkstockWhatever recovery the jobs market posted in 2012, mass layoffs remained impressively high. Dozens of companies each fired thousands of workers, with failing firms at the top of the list based on total cuts.…
ThinkstockIn a tracking survey that estimates the percentage of the U.S. population employed at least 30 hours a week, Gallup reports that the Payroll to Population (P2P) employment rate rose from 43.7% in November…
ThinkstockThe National Employment Law Project (NELP) reports that the minimum wage will increase in 10 states as 2013 begins. These include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The…
ThinkstockMost experts worry that, as long as unemployment is above 6% in America, the U.S. economy cannot recover. The Fed even has set a target of 6.5% as a measure for when it will stop…
ThinkstockThe Conference Board this morning reported that its consumer confidence index fell from 71.5 in November to 65.1 in December. The expectations index fell sharply, from 80.9 to 66.5, while the present situation index…
ThinkstockThe Labor Department has released its weekly jobless claims, and the good news is that we saw another drop. The bad news is that this time of year is often considered a wash because…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsThe US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today released its data on state and regional unemployment for November. Compared with October data, unemployment rates fell in 45 states and the…
ThinkstockEach day it becomes more likely that Americans face higher taxes, as the battle over the fiscal cliff appears almost certain to stretch into 2013. Many economists expect higher taxes to effect lower class Americans…
courtesy of McDonald'sSome people have objected to the fact that McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) will keep many of its locations open for Christmas. Apparently, this breaks with a tradition of giving people the day off.…
ThinkstockThe governors of the Federal Reserve may believe that a 6.5% national unemployment level is within sight as the current national level has dropped below 8%. But the situation in some states is nearly…
courtesy Chesapeake Energy Corp.The country’s second largest natural gas producer, Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) today announced that it has offered a voluntary separation program to approximately 275 employees “as part of the company’s…
ThinkstockLast month, the unemployment rate in the United States fell to 7.7% of the labor force. The last time unemployment was this low was four years ago this month. An estimated 134.74 million people…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsThe U.S. Labor Department is out with its report on weekly jobless claims. There was a big drop of 27,000 claims, down to 343,000. Bloomberg had a consensus estimate of…