The unemployment rate’s unexpected drop to a three-year low has overshadowed a less-positive labor- market development: fewer Americans are looking for work.
Last week’s Labor Department announcement that the jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent in January sent stocks and bond yields higher. The same report showed the share of working-age people in the labor force had declined to the lowest level in 29 years.
The so-called participation rate was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday to support his assessment that the rate of unemployment obscures vulnerabilities in the job market. Bernanke, speaking to the Senate Budget Committee, confirmed the Fed’s stance that interest rates will stay low at least through late 2014, and repeated his view that the job market is a “long way” from returning to normal.
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The economy is gradually gaining strength, creating more jobs, and reducing the unemployment rate. Economic pain for American families, though, remains significant with relatively high unemployment, persistent long-term unemployment, lingering household wealth losses, and crushing debt burdens. The economy will have to grow much faster for much longer to restore economic security for America’s middle [...]
It must now be obvious that, economically speaking, we’re in another country. Things we once took for granted no longer apply; things we never imagined occur all the time. We’ve entered a zone of ignorance where familiar experience and ideas count for less. “Thirty years ago, if you’d said that the United States and Europe [...]
How should people prepare for the difficult years that are coming? I get asked about that a lot. Once people really examine the facts, it is not too hard to convince them that an economic collapse is coming. But once they accept that reality, most of them want to know what they can do to [...]
New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 381,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week’s claims data was revised up to [...]
The world’s oldest democracy enters this election year in one of the foulest moods on record. Three quarters of Americans tell pollsters the country is going down the tubes. In roughly equal number, they hate the Republicans and the Tea Party, the Democrats and the Occupy [What Have You] movement, Congress, and anyone else in [...]
Gold fell on Tuesday but remained range-bound around $1,600 as investors stayed on the sidelines in the final week of the year, subdued by concerns about the euro zone debt crisis. Recent U.S. economic data had spurred a rally in riskier assets including equities and industrial metals and sent gold prices up about half a [...]
The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a 3-1/2 year low last week, bolstering views the economy was gaining momentum, even though third-quarter growth was revised down. Other data on Thursday underscored the firming tone in the economy, with consumer sentiment scaling a six-month high in December and a barometer of [...]
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