The now-settled labor dispute at the West Coast ports appears to have slowed the flow of imports and exports. The strong dollar, weak global demand as well as lower crude oil prices also likely impacted the trade balance in February.
The number was far below expectations. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected ADP would say 225,000 new jobs were added in March. The February ADP increase was revised 214,000 from 212,000
Surface storage is the first and most important part of a comprehensive water solution. Even the areas of the state with the greatest potential to recharge groundwater require a steady supply of water to fill the underground aquifers. Other than the few short months of heavy rains, that water will come from a reservoir.
“A new white paper from CalChamber summarizes current employment law trends and offers practical advice for employers to minimize their potential workplace law liability. The white paper analyzes the “mixed bag” of employment law developments from new legislation and court decisions. “
The new organization, called the Economic Innovation Group, is premised on the idea that policy solutions to some longstanding economic challenges might break through with better engagement from successful private-sector investors and entrepreneurs.
The supervisors agreed to weigh the impact of not only requiring a higher baseline pay for their roughly 100,000 employees — the largest local government workforce in the United States — but also for county contractors and businesses in those unincorporated areas.
Those of us who argue for the imperative of increasing skills are not staking out that position because we believe it will close the gap between the rich and the middle—or between the exorbitantly rich and the merely rich. Rather, we take that position because higher levels of skills will improve the economic position of those around and below the middle of the current earnings distribution. On average, more education does translate into more-valuable skills, and the results of our simulation exercise support that view. At the same time, they make it clear that increasing the share of working-age men that have college degrees will do very little to decrease the overall level of earnings inequality.
Better education would lift the earnings of men in the bottom half of the income scale but wouldn’t be enough to erase inequality between the rich and poor, according to a new paper.
Real estate firm Redfin says the median selling price in February in San Francisco was up 16.2 percent from a year ago, to $979,750. And people are buying them. Closed residential sales in San Francisco were up 12 percent from February 2014.
Number of Trade Jobs: 4,700,000
“Gas prices are higher in California than almost anywhere else in the nation, albeit markedly lower than they were a year ago. And there are reasons for that disparity. California’s fuel taxes are among the highest in the nation, the state Air Resources Board just imposed cap-and-trade fees on fuel, and the state requires unique, smog-fighting formulations.”
On Jan. 30, Californians paid an average of $2.43 for a gallon of gasoline, the lowest since May 2009, according to fuel tracking group GasBuddy.com. It shot up 93 cents in a month and has since been fluctuating around $3.20, nearly 80 cents more than the national average.
There’s a wide range of sales tax rates in California, some rates are increasing this week and if pending legislation is successful, the range will get even wider.
Most Americans agree that the future of the U.S. economy depends on the ability of its businesses to compete globally. One of the key factors that allow U.S. employers to grow their businesses and create new jobs is their ability to recruit and retain talent from other countries. How well does the current U.S. employment-based immigration system support this goal? Based on original research and analysis, Business Roundtable found that the United States falls short when compared to other advanced economies.
A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said that most people who get a new job weren’t seeking it. Instead, recruitment and referrals form the basis of the bulk of new hiring.