Update 268 — State of the Labor Market(s); Workers Seeing Red in Republican States Sometimes you can see where starving the beast cuts to the bone. Two months ago, teachers in West Virginia began a statewide strike that would last for weeks. It would pay off, winning gains for educators who have endured some of …
Update 262 — Peering over the Fiscal Cliff: Trillion-Dollar Deficits Far as the Eye Can See Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the federal government’s annual budget deficit will reach $1 trillion next fiscal year. Under current CBO expectations, the national debt will exceed $33 trillion by fiscal 2028, up from …
Update 260 — Unpacking the 2017 Tax Cut: A Potpourri of Unintended Consequences For millions of Americans, April is the cruelest month because it requires time spent with the federal income tax code. This year (or tax year 2017) may top them all for annoyance, confusion, and surprises. And for billable hours for accountants and …
Update 257 — Primary Recap: TX, IL Key Candidates, Races, and Results Last week’s primary elections in Texas and yesterday’s in Illinois mark a turning point in the year. Washington saw a major winter snowstorm on the first official day of spring. And there have been some surprises in the hinterland as primary season 2018 …
Update 203 — Median Income Hits New Record But… Who Has Seen the Wage Gains? The news out of the Census Bureau yesterday that median household income has reached record heights — $59K — following an average growth rate of more than four percent over 2015 and ’16 — was an unambiguously good and a …
Median Income Hits New Record But… Who Has Seen the Wage Gains? (Sep. 13) Read More »
Update 194 — Jobs and Job Training: Repeal & Defund vs. Resist & Defend Six months into the Trump administration — amid travel ban court fights, investigations, tweeted threats against investigations, staff shake ups, Russian collusion allegations, misspelled tweets, fake news, baked beans, and spam — the American worker, retired worker, and worker-in-training are still forgotten. Democrats …
Update 190: Full Employment Shortages June Jobs Report & the Labor Market The BLS jobs report for the month of June, released last Friday, showed a resumption of net jobs gained — 222,000, up from 138,000 in May. Unemployment came in at 4.4 percent, not far from what economists regard as maximum, or “full,” employment. But …
As he begins his victory tour tonight in Ohio, President-elect Trump appears on the cusp of a deal with a large Indiana manufacturing firm that would keep 500-1000 furnace-making jobs in the state. What’s the deal? Is it a model for job creation and a tool for the four percent GDP growth that Trump is aiming …
