While the Federal Reserve Board may have contributed to December’s market swoon, it also played a role in the stock market’s best January performance in more than three decades. In…
Economic Cycles Are Not Extinct
With the current recovery stretching to 113 months, it’s easy to forget that the economy is, and always has been, cyclical. Cycles can be manipulated to some degree, but they…
JOBS 3.0: More Studies, but Some Deregulation, Too
Yesterday we highlighted features of JOBS 3.0, which combines 32 separate bills into one. Many of the bills are merely housekeeping items with lofty titles, but, taken as a whole,…
When There Are More Jobs than Job Seekers
Yesterday, we looked at the record-breaking (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) JOLTS data, which provided good news for American workers. But having more job openings than people looking for…
Almost Nobody Left Behind in U.S. Labor Market
If you started a new job last month, you’re not alone. In fact, 313,000 Americans found jobs in February. While 92,000 people found jobs in construction and manufacturing, another 50,000…
Can We All Be Greeters at Wal-Mart?
Job reports typically report on jobs as if they are a commodity; a job is a job, whether you’re a CEOs or a greeter at Wal-Mart. So it’s good news…
The Job Creation Snow Job
Consider this headline from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment rate declines to 4.7% in May; payroll employment changes little (+38,000). Great news, right? The unemployment rate fell to…
The Stock Market Needs “Seasonal Adjustment”
How many jobs did the U.S. economy generate in December? The correct answer is: 292,000 281,000 11,000 None of the above David Stockman wrote on his “Contra Corner” blog: “According…
Appearance vs. Reality
Maybe if the good news about the U.S. economy gets repeated often enough, appearance will become reality. We’re not there yet. The official word from the U.S. Bureau of Labor…
President Underwood Goes Keynesian
In the latest season of “House of Cards,” President Frank Underwood stakes his political future on a $500 billion program called America Works, which will allegedly create 10 million jobs…