Unemployment

For many food is an art; for others, it’s an economic indicator.  When times are good, Americans spend on eating out instead of preparing less costly equivalents at home.  As the tide changes, diets tend to change.  Instead of frequenting venues with menus, consumers opt for more affordable, shelf-stable items like rice, pasta, beans, lentils, and oats, along with canned go

Our nation is in the midst of history.  We are under 80 days from the next election, including that of the future President of the United States.  Campaigns are in full swing, and so is story telling.  History is being told with a bit of revisionist flair, not unlike prior campaigns filled with promises and less-than-accurate recollections of earlier accomplishments.

Labor is in short supply.  Just take a look at the current unemployment rate of 3.4 percent (tied for the lowest level going back decades).

Every six weeks the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meets to discuss monetary policies and to make any changes to it which they deem necessary.  Their latest two-day meeting ended last Wednesday with the 12-person committee unanimously voting to raise the overnight lending rate banks charge each other by 0.75 percentage points; the range for this type of loan now stands at 3.75 - 4.0

People of notoriety are often given the opportunity to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.  As you can see in this video which highlights some of the worst throws, the sixty-foot toss is harder than the professionals make it look.  Similarly, economists throw out projections each month, anticipating the outco

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen” - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

America’s labor situation has been one of the economy’s highlights since it began recovering after the Great Recession.  Last year (2019) ended the decade by adding 2.11 million net new jobs, including December’s uptick of 145,000 according the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent.

American firms continued adding jobs in September 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Their latest tally indicates 136,000 net new jobs were gained in the period.  However, this improvement is slower than the upwardly revised tally of 168,000 (originally 130,000) in August.  Despite the slowing rate of improvement, the unemployment rate fell to just 3.5 percent, th

One of the most-followed economic indicators disappointed in August 2019.  Employment gains decelerated to 130,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Adding to the weakness, the prior two months’ tallies were downwardly revised by 20,000 net new jobs.  However, we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that unemployment is very low; it held steady at 3.7 percent