Tag: Jobs

Commentary: Jobs Report Shows Cracks in Labor Market That Could Bring Down the Entire Economy

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Cracks in the labor market and the broader economy continue to emerge. The October jobs report released Friday morning reveals that only 150,000 jobs were created last month, below expectations and well below the recent average. August and September job creation was revised down by more than 100,000, taking the sheen off the September jobs report.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9%. While this figure is still low, there are now nearly one million more unemployed Americans than in April of this year.

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America Adds over 300,000 Jobs in September as Interest Rates Remain Elevated

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. added 336,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in September as the unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.

Economists had anticipated that the country would add 170,000 jobs in September compared to 187,000 in August and that the unemployment rate would slide down to 3.7% from 3.8%, according to Reuters. Private employment data for September showed that only 89,000 jobs were added for the month, as the professional and business services, trade, transportations and utilities and manufacturing services sectors all had substantial losses, according to ADP.

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Commentary: Bidenomics Is Pouring Cold Water on the Labor Market

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Friday’s jobs numbers show the labor market is softening due to Bidenomics and Bidenflation. Only 187,000 jobs were created last month. That’s below expectations, 40% less than the 12-month average, and the lowest level since the pandemic. Previous months’ employment growth was also revised down significantly, taking the sheen off recent jobs reports.

Average wages grew slower than core inflation, meaning Americans’ real wages and living standards remain stagnant. Friday’s numbers come on the heels of this week’s JOLTS report showing the fewest number of job openings and the fewest number of Americans quitting their jobs since the pandemic.

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Commentary: As Hiring Slows Down, So Does the Economy

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in June, according to the latest establishment survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than expected as 306,000 were added in May, as hiring slowed down nationwide. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained about the same at 3.6 percent.

Historically, when hiring slows down by establishments, that usually coincides with economic slowdowns and recessions. In the recent cycle, the 2020 and 2021 recovery from COVID notwithstanding, hiring peaked at about 5.2 percent annualized increase in Feb. 2022. Now, it’s down to 2.5 percent.

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Commentary: As Hiring Slows Down, So Does the Economy

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in June, according to the latest establishment survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than expected as 306,000 were added in May, as hiring slowed down nationwide. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained about the same at 3.6 percent.

Historically, when hiring slows down by establishments, that usually coincides with economic slowdowns and recessions. In the recent cycle, the 2020 and 2021 recovery from Covid notwithstanding, hiring peaked at about 5.2 percent annualized increase in Feb. 2022. Now, it’s down to 2.5 percent.

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Economy Added 339K Jobs in May, Nearly Double Wall Street Expectations

Just the News

U.S. employers have added roughly 339,000 jobs in May, and the monthly unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month while on an annual basis, wages increased 4.3%, which was a 0.1 percentage point under the estimate.

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Commentary: Don’t Believe The Jobs Day Hype — Americans Are Still Getting Poorer

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Friday’s jobs report shows 339,000 jobs were created in May, beating expectations again. While Democrats and the media celebrate, the labor market condition is not as strong as this topline number suggests.

The report shows that real wages continue to decline. For the 26th consecutive month, average wages grew slower than inflation. The Biden presidency will forever be marked as one where Americans got poorer and saw their living standards decline.

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Report: U.S. Economic Development Departments Pay Big Money for Few Gains

The Center Square

While billion-dollar economic development incentives are heavily expanding across the country, the agencies in charge of handing out those incentives claim to create or retain 625,000 jobs in their most recent fiscal years, according to a new report.

The Center for Economic Accountability tallied up the jobs claimed as part of incentive packages in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. and found job total would be less than 5% of the 15 million to 17 million jobs naturally created in the United States economy each year.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Doesn’t Care About Creating Jobs – They Even Say So

Admin

Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the quiet part out loud last week. As the executive of our public lands agency, she does not believe that Americans need jobs because there are already so many jobs available. It’s better to lock up land, and lock down mining because who wants those jobs, when there are so many others?

Before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Haaland told Sen. Josh Hawley, “Senator, I know that there’s like 1.9 jobs for every American in the country right now. So, I know there’s a lot of jobs,” which was her explanation for canceling cobalt mining permits for Twin Metals Minnesota, an underground mine proposed for the northeastern part of the state. America won’t need those jobs, she was saying.

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Report: ‘Unclear’ Whether Pennsylvania’s Rural Tax Credit Program Creates Jobs

The Center Square

Lawmakers have approved a variety of tax credits in an effort to boost economic growth in the commonwealth. Evidence of that growth, however, can be hard to find. 

For one program aimed at rural Pennsylvania, a state agency has recommended a pause until more data can show that the tax credits have actually created jobs.

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Critics Blast Biden After Federal Report Shows Killing Keystone Pipeline Cost Thousands of Jobs

The Center Square

The Biden administration has drawn fire for admitting that killing the Keystone Pipeline cost the U.S. economy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.

A report from the Department of Energy showed the pipeline would have supported tens of thousands of jobs, though the number is hard to nail down.

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Businesses Add Fewest Jobs in Two Years as Manufacturing Craters

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Private companies added 127,000 jobs in November, missing investor expectations by more than 70,000 to post the worst result since January 2021, according to private payroll firm ADP and CNBC Monday.

The addition represented a sharp decline from the 239,000 new jobs reported by the firm in October. Industries that were most directly impacted by higher interest rates, such as construction, were hit the hardest by job cuts, while consumer-facing industries, such as hospitality, largely weathered the storm, according to ADP.

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Economist: 30 Percent Chance That U.S. Enters a Recession Within a Year’s Time

The Center Square

A Goldman Sachs economist says there is a 30% probability of the U.S. entering a recession within one year and 48% within two years. 

Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. economist David Mericle outlined the probability of a recession at an event Tuesday and said that the likelihood of a recession would decrease if the U.S. had not entered one within two years.

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‘We’ve Lost Several Hundred Jobs a Day’: Economist Finds Red Flags in Biden’s Positive Jobs Report

Admin

Although Friday’s jobs report seemed like good news for a beleaguered economy and President Joe Biden, the report’s potential methodological issue as well as the economy’s negative growth indicate a recession is still on the horizon, according to an economist at The Heritage Foundation.

The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics’ job report for June, released on Friday, soothed some fears that the U.S. economy might be approaching a recession. However, negative GDP growth, rampant inflation and methodological issues within the report indicate that a recession is looming, according to E.J. Antoni, a research fellow for regional economics at The Heritage Foundation.

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‘A Source of Concern’: Jobs Growth Stalls, Unemployment Rises in May

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May while the unemployment rate was largely unchanged at 3.6%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.

The number of unemployed people ticked up slightly to about 6 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report. Economists projected 328,000 Americans would be added to payrolls prior to Friday’s report, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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Majority of Americans Say They Are ‘Falling Behind’ Rising Cost of Living

The Center Square

The majority of Americans feel they cannot keep up with the cost of living as inflation and the price of goods continue to rise, according to new polling data.

A poll from NBC News asked Americans, “Do you think that your family’s income is … going up faster than the cost of living, staying about even with the cost of living, or falling behind the cost of living?”

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Commentary: A Biden Recession Is Virtually Guaranteed After 10-Year, 2-Year Treasuries Spread Inverts as Economy Overheats from Rampant Inflation

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff
Joe Biden

The spread between 10-year treasuries and 2-year treasuries, a leading recession indicator whose inversions have predicted almost all of the U.S. economic recessions in modern history, on March 31 inverted for the first time since Sept. 2019.

When the 10-year, 2-year spread inverts, a recession tends to result on average 14 months afterward, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. The one time there was a head fake on the 10-year, 2-year was in the mid-1990s at a time when inflation was much lower Visit Site than it is now.

As an aside, potentially the Sept. 2019 inversion might have ended up being a premature indicator, too, but then Covid and global economic lockdowns in early 2020 went ahead and ensured a recession even if one was not due. On the other hand, at that point it had been 11 years since the prior recession and so the business cycle was going to end sooner or later.

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Job Openings Hardly Budge as Americans Continue to Quit Their Jobs in Droves

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Job openings remained nearly unchanged in February while Americans continue to leave their jobs in high numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Tuesday.

The U.S. saw 11.3 million job openings in February, a slight dip from December’s high of 11.4 million, BLS reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated job openings would slightly decrease from January’s 11.3 million figure.

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Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level in over 50 Years

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 187,000 in the week ending March 19, the lowest level in over 50 years, the Department of Labor announced Thursday.

The Labor Department’s figure showed a decrease of 28,000 compared to the week ending March 12, when new claims numbered 215,000, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This week’s claims were well below the predictions of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who estimated that new claims would total 210,000.

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10 Republican-Controlled States Reach Record-Low Unemployment Rates

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

As the peak of the coronavirus pandemic appears to have passed, ten Republican-led states have all recorded the lowest unemployment rate on record.

According to The Hill, the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows ten different states with unemployment rates as low as just over 2 percent. Nebraska and Utah are tied for the lowest percentages in the country, at 2.2 percent each. They are followed by Indiana with 2.4 percent, and Kansas with 2.6 percent. The remaining six states are: Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

All ten states’ unemployment rates are currently the lowest on record since BLS first began tracking state-by-state percentages in 1976. Of these ten states, only one has a Democratic governor, with Laura Kelly in Kansas. All ten states have Republican majorities in their respective state legislatures.

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U.S. Added 678K Jobs in February, While Unemployment Decreased Slightly

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U.S. economy added 678,000 jobs in February, according to a Friday report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), beating economists’ expectations.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 678,000 in February, according to the BLS report, while the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, a pandemic low. Job gains were most pronounced in the leisure and hospitality sectors, which added a total 179,000 jobs.

“The labor market continues to be quite hot,” Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed, told The Wall Street Journal. “It looks like the labor market is still primed for lots of strong employment growth.”

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COVID Restrictions’ Impact on Pennsylvania Still Felt, Forecasted to Persist

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) on Monday issued a report on the state’s economy indicating COVID-era restrictions continue to make a negative impact.

The IFO composed the report to inform lawmakers as they begin a series of state budget hearings this week. The agency observes that the Keystone State’s labor-force-participation rate is at its lowest in 37 years and forecasts that jobs numbers won’t return to their December-2019 apex for at least another three years.

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Port of Philadelphia Gets Second Infusion of Money for Modernization

The Center Square

Gov. Tom Wolf gathered with state and local officials Friday to announce $265 million in funding for the Port of Philadelphia to “continue modernization efforts and improve regional stability.”

“The port is an economic driver, not only in Philadelphia, but across the commonwealth,” Wolf said. “The port supports jobs, encourages trade, and builds connections that help businesses and communities across Pennsylvania thrive. This new $246 million investment will help the port build on its success over the past few years and will help Pennsylvania build on our commonwealth’s economic success and job growth, too.”

The money will fund the next phase of the Port Development Plan after a $300 million investment in 2016 that expanded the facility’s infrastructure and warehousing space and added three new super post-Panamax cranes at the Packer Avenue Marine terminal. The improvements, along with a new Southport Auto Terminal, ramped up cargo volumes, resulting in a 60% increase in containers arriving in the city.

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Majority of Democrats Say the Unvaccinated Should Be Confined to Home: Poll

The Center Square

One-third of Americans say they haven’t gotten the COVID-19 shots, majority of Democrats say they should be confined at all times, and or fined.

A majority of Democrats say they’d support the unvaxxed being confined to their homes at all times, with 45% saying they should be confined to designated facilities and 55% support for fines.

Roughly one-third of Americans surveyed in a recent poll say they haven’t received the COVID-19 shots and the majority of them said they don’t plan on getting them. The unvaccinated would be targeted by a majority of Democrats in another poll who say they favor a government policy that would require them to “remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies.”

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U.S. Economy Adds Just 199,000 Jobs in December, Far Below Expectations

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff
Man in a hard hat pointing his finger

The U.S. economy recorded an increase of 199,000 jobs in December and the unemployment dipped to 3.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday.

Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 199,000 in December, according to the BLS, and the number of unemployed Americans dipped to 6.3 million. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected the economy to add 422,000 jobs in December and for unemployment to fall to 4.1%.

December’s jobs report leaves the U.S. economy with roughly 6.5 million more jobs than at the end of 2020 but still 3.5 million short of pre-pandemic levels.

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Commentary: Financial Stability Is Key to Being Able to Leave Job for Refusing Vaccine Mandate

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff
Joshua Mawhorter

Until recently, I was a California teacher working in two charter schools, one as a full-time classroom teacher of Government/Economics and sometimes U.S. History, and the other as a part-time independent study teacher who assists families with a program primarily based around homeschooling. I have taught for about five years and love teaching.

Last week, I was fired from one school and put on unpaid administrative leave at the other because of my refusal either to take and demonstrate proof of the COVID-19 vaccine or test weekly. I even filed a religious exemption stating the following that was rejected:

“As a committed follower of Christ, I religiously and philosophically cannot submit to either a government vaccine mandate or weekly testing.

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U.S. Adds 531,000 Jobs in October, Exceeding Expectations

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The U..S. economy recorded an increase of 531,000 jobs in October, and unemployment fell by 0.2% as the labor market recovers from the summer lows, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The number of unemployed people fell to 7.4 million, down from 7.7 million in September, according to the BLS report released Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones projected 450,000 jobs would be added in October.

While unemployment claims continue to fall, the country still struggles with labor shortages, supply chain issues and growing inflation.  Job growth was widespread throughout the economy in October, with leisure and hospitality adding 164,000 jobs, professional and business adding 100,000 and manufacturing adding 60,000 jobs, according to the BLS report.

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Private Payrolls Added 571,000 Jobs in October as Hiring Heats Up

Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Private firms’ payrolls increased by 571,000 in October, far exceeding experts’ expectations as hiring throughout the country heats up, according to a major employment report.

The 571,000 jobs added is a slight increase from the 523,000 jobs added in September, the ADP National Employment Report showed. The Dow Jones estimate predicted companies would add 395,000 jobs in October, CNBC reported.

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