Friday’s jobs report reveals accelerating weakness in the American economy. Only 142,000 jobs were created last month, below expectations. Half of new positions were created in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare and social services sectors.
A record 8.2 million Americans have second jobs. So far this year, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by one million.
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U.S. productivity growth slowed in the first quarter of 2024, casting doubt on the American economy’s future growth, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Thursday.
Growth in U.S. business productivity slowed to just 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024, below economists’ predictions of 0.5% and far lower than the 3.5% rate of growth achieved in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the BLS. Sluggish growth in productivity bodes poorly for broader gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024.
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In few areas is economic policy’s inseparability from politics more manifest than in global trade. In the period immediately following ratification of the U.S. Constitution, for example, trade debates within the Washington Administration became quickly entangled with arguments about what should be America’s stance vis-à-vis the spreading global conflict between France and Britain in the French Revolution’s wake. Similarly, when Congress and the executive branch today develop or modify trade policy, whether in a liberalizing or protectionist direction, it inevitably has political ramifications for both America’s allies and its opponents in the world.
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The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its quarterly Gross Domestic Product data Thursday which the economy grew in the third quarter of 2022 by 2.6% at an annualized rate.
“The increase in real GDP reflected increases in exports, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending, that were partly offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and private inventory investment,” BEA said.
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Former Obama administration Treasury Secretary Steven Rattner is the latest high-profile Democrat to hit at the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. economy.
In a “guest essay” for the New York Times on Thursday, Rattner criticized the president for the “talking points on inflation” he provided during a recent interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
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President Joe Biden’s nationwide average job approval rating fell below 40% for the first time Thursday, multiple sources reported.
Biden’s mean approval rating sunk to 39.8% as of early Thursday, according to the Real Clear Politics average of major nationwide job performance polls. The figure is just 2.7 points above former President Donald Trump’s all-time low approval rating of 37.1% in December 2017, according to the Real Clear Politics average.
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A majority of Americans say they are not better off financially than they were a year ago, according to a new poll.
Gallup released the polling data Thursday showing that only 41% of Americans say they are financially better off than they were a year ago, when President Joe Biden took office.
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The U.S. economy grew at a faster rate than was anticipated pace in the fourth quarter of 2021, benefiting from solid consumer demand before the slowdown caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant and supply chain disruptions.
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 6.9% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2021, a 2.3% increase from the third quarter figure, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated that U.S. GDP would grow at a just 5.5% annual rate.
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As the Omicron variant surged across the U.S., retail sales dipped 1.9% during the final month of 2021, according to information released by the Commerce Department on Friday.
Data shows that holiday shoppers took warnings about shipping delays seriously and shifted their holiday shopping schedule up last year. On the whole, consumer demand led sales to grow by 16.9% in 2021.
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President Joe Biden’s approval rating continues to drop as voters grow increasingly dissatisfied with his handling of key issues, according to the results of a new poll.
Biden’s approval rating dropped to a new low of 33%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, with 53% of Americans saying they disapprove of the president’s performance. The rating is down 3% since November 2021, when Biden held a 36% approval rating.
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The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, surged to 9.7% on a year-over-year basis as of December 2021, marking the highest rate in history, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Thursday.
The BLS reported that the PPI grew 0.2% in December as prices continued to soar amid growing supply chain disruptions and COVID-19 concerns. As of November, the measure grew 9.6% on a year-over basis and 0.8% in that month alone.
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The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record high in November as consumer demand for goods and the easing of supply chain bottlenecks caused imports to surge, according to the Commerce Department.
The goods deficit increased in November to $99 billion as consumers shopped for holiday gifts earlier than in previous years, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. Imports outweighed exports, bringing the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in November to $80.2 billion.
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Zillow is closing down its home buying and selling business and laying off 25% of its workforce after the online real estate company missed its third-quarter earnings estimate.
The company announced in a statement attached to its earnings report Tuesday that it would be shutting down its Offers program, which buys and sells houses, after the company reported a net loss, partly due to failures in its Offers division. Zillow attributed the change to its inability to accurately forecast the housing market.
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COVID-19 is taking a back seat when it comes to the economy, education and more, recent polls show.
In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, only about 12% of American adults surveyed said they would list public health issues, which include COVID-19, as a top priority, below economic issues like the job market and inflation. The poll also showed 73% of respondents saying political leaders should focus on growing jobs and the economy and two-thirds of voters, including a majority of both Republicans and Democrats, agreeing that “inflation is a very big concern for me.”
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Food prices have surged as companies battle increasing costs, labor shortages and supply chain problems, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Food companies are struggling to find trucks and staff processing lines as costs for necessary products surge, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the U.S. will “build on” existing tariffs targeting billions of dollars in Chinese imports issued during the Trump administration as President Joe Biden seeks to define his relationship with China, Politico reported.
Tai told Politico the Section 301 tariffs former President Donald Trump issued have “had the effect of getting a lot of people’s attention,” including U.S. companies, their workers, trading partners and China itself.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 362,000 last week as the economy continues to slowly recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday represents an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Sept. 18, when 351,000 new jobless claims were reported. Jobless claims were expected to decline to 335,000, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Retail sales in the U.S. declined in July as the number of coronavirus cases spiked, localities renewed some restrictions and businesses delayed their return to in-person work.
Sales dropped 1.1% in July compared to June and totaled $617.7 billion, according to the Census Bureau report released Tuesday. The decrease was driven mainly by declining used and new car sales, clothing purchases, building materials sales, sports goods sales and furniture purchases.
Economists expected retail sales to fall 0.3%, a relatively modest drop compared to the actual decline, CNBC reported. All major stock market indices declined between 0.5% and 0.8% on Tuesday morning following the worse-than-expected report.
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The U.S. economy reported an increase of 49,000 jobs in January while the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.
Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 49,000 in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell to 10.1 million. Economists projected 50,000 Americans to be added to payrolls and the unemployment rate to increase to come in at 6.7% prior to Friday’s report, according to the WSJ.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 779,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 23, in which there were 847,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 17.8 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 847,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 16, in which there were 900,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 18.3 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The U.S. economy contracted 3.5% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, marking the nation’s worst economic performance since the end of World War II.
The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), which measures net services and goods produced by a country, fell 3.5% in 2020 compared to the 2.2% increase in 2019, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released Thursday. The overall decline came despite 4% growth in the fourth quarter, the period from October to December, and 38.3% growth in the third quarter, the period from July to September.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 965,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 9, in which there were 787,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 18.4 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims stayed at 787,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented no change in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 2, in which there were also 787,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 19.2 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 787,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Dec. 26, in which there were 803,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 19.6 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 803,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Dec. 12, in which there were 885,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 20.4 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 885,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented an increase of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Dec. 5, in which there were 853,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 20.6 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 853,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a large increase of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Nov. 28, in which there were 712,000 new jobless claims reported. New jobless claims had stayed below 800,000 for more than a month prior to the report.
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The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, far below economists’ expectations, while unemployment fell to 6.7%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.
Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 245,000 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 400,000 to 10.7 million. The U.S. added 638,000 jobs in October while the unemployment rate dropped to 6.9%.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 712,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Nov. 21, in which there were 778,000 new jobless claims reported. New jobless claims have stayed below 800,000 for more than a month.
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Disney is preparing to lay off 32,000 employees as the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep visitors away from theme parks.
Most of those layoffs would come from Disney’s parks, experiences and products division, according to a report Disney filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. The company announced in September that it would lay off 28,000 layoffs, but those pertained largely to part-time employees.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 778,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Wednesday represented an increase of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Nov. 14, in which there were 742,000 new jobless claims reported. New jobless claims have stayed below 800,000 for more than a month.
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The number of individuals who filed for unemployment benefits last week increased to 742,000, the first increase in five weeks, according to new data published by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The number of people who filed for state unemployment benefits in the week ending Nov. 13 grew by 31,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 711,000, according to the Nov. 19 report.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 742,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented an increase of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Nov. 7, in which there were 709,000 new jobless claims reported. New jobless claims have been below 800,000 for five consecutive weeks.
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The U.S. economy added 638,000 jobs in October, while unemployment fell to 6.9%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.
Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 638,000 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 1.5 million to 11.1 million. The U.S. added 661,000 jobs in September while the unemployment rate dropped to 7.9%.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims came in at 751,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
New jobless claims were unchanged compared to the week ending Oct. 24 in which there were also 751,000 new jobless claims reported, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday showed. New jobless claims have been below 800,000 for three consecutive weeks, according to CNBC.
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Years ago, news stories began to surface about qualified American workers being forced to train their less-expensive foreign replacements. Those stories seemed too absurd and flat-out un-American to be real, but, in fact, it was happening. In some cases, employees were forced to go through a humiliating process just to receive their severance packages. Stories like these have illustrated in clear terms how America’s H-1B foreign worker visa program was being manipulated to the detriment of American workers. Now, however, the Trump Administration has taken significant action to stop this abuse, ensure America’s businesses have the specialized workers they need, and deliver an economy that serves American workers first.
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The U.S. economy grew by a record 33.1% in the third quarter of 2020, as employers continue to restore jobs and the country continues to feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Commerce figure released Wednesday reflects the rate of decline in U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter, from July to September. The economy plunged by 31.4% in the second quarter of 2020, a record drop caused by government measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, according to The Associated Press.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 751,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 17, in which there were 787,000 new jobless claims reported. The figure released on Oct. 22 was the lowest since March, according to CNBC.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 787,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 10, in which there were 898,000 new jobless claims reported. Thursday’s figure was the lowest since March, according to CNBC.
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Nearly 900,000 American workers filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, an increase of 53,000 new claims from the week prior and a sign that the U.S. economy has a long way to go to recovery.
According to U.S. Department of Labor satistics released Thursday, 898,000 new claims were filed in the week ending Oct. 10, when seasonally adjusted. That’s up from the previous week’s revised level of 845,000 claims.
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An additional 840,000 American workers filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending Oct. 3, down about 9,000 from the previous week’s revised number but still well above pre-pandemic levels.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the advance seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent for the week ending Sept. 26, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the prior week. Unemployment rate data lags the new initial claims report by a week.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 837,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Sept. 19, in which there were 870,000 new jobless claims reported.
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About 870,000 workers filed new unemployment claims last week, a slight increase from the week prior though the overall unemployment rate continues its slow decline.
According to U.S. Department of Labor data released Thursday, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.6% for the week ending Sept. 12, with 12.58 million workers filing continued claims for benefits.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 860,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor figure released Thursday represented an decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Sept. 5, in which there were 884,000 new jobless claims reported.
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About 884,000 U.S. workers filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the second consecutive week that new claims fell below the million mark and the third time in about a month.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that the number of new claims filed in the week ending Sept. 5 was about the same as those who filed the week ending Aug. 29 – 884,000. The numbers from the week ending Aug. 29 were adjusted about by 3,000 from 881,000.
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The U.S. economy added 1.4 million jobs in August, while unemployment fell to 8.4%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.
Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 2.8 million to 13.6 million. The unemployment rate fell below 10% for the first time since April when the rate reached 14.7%.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 881,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Aug. 22, in which there were 1,006,000 new jobless claims reported.
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More than 20 percent of small business owners said they will have to close permanently if current economic conditions do not improve within the next six months, according to a survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business.
The largest small business association in the U.S., headquartered in Nashville, conducted the survey to assess the financial health of small businesses.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 1,006,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor figure released Thursday represented a slight decrease of 98,000 new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Aug. 15. The number was about where Wall Street analysts expected it to be, according to CNBC.
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