In projections released earlier this month, Fed policy makers lowered their estimate of the longer-run jobless rate to a range between 5% and 5.2%. That threshold represents what some economists call the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment, or Nairu. In English, it’s the lowest unemployment rate that won’t stoke inflation.
Experts say employee skills, coupled with a vast amount of private equity, great weather, a range of attractions, and its geographic connection to investment from the rest of the Pacific Rim and Asia, continue to keep California’s economy strong.
The value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes — increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 5.0 percent.
Texas continues to dominate major metropolitan area growth. Among the 53 major metropolitan areas (with more than 1 million population), Texas cities occupied three of five top positions in population growth, and four of the top 10 (Figure 1).
Profits at U.S. corporations in late 2014 posted their largest drop in four years, a reflection of an economy weighed down by a strong dollar and weak global demand. . . . GDP, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.2% in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said. That was unchanged from its previous estimate last month. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected an upward revision to 2.4% growth.
Average state personal income growth accelerated to 3.9 percent in 2014 from 2.0 percent in 2013, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth of state personal income–the sum of net earnings by place of residence, property income, and personal current transfer receipts–ranged from 0.5 percent in Nebraska to 5.7 percent in Alaska and Oregon, with 45 states growing faster in 2014 than in 2013. Inflation, as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, was 1.3 percent in 2014 and 1.2 percent in 2013.
Pat Mulroy, the former leader of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, delivered a bluntly worded warning to attendees at the California Water Policy Conference in Claremont, saying the linkage between the Delta and much of the West is clear, “yet many here in California still don’t see the connection.”
A new survey by the Society of Human Resource Management released Tuesday found about 14 percent of businesses have reduced part-time hours and another 6 percent plan to do so. Employers are reducing hours to avoid Obamacare’s employer mandate, which requires companies to provide health insurance to all workers that work 30 or more hours a week.
The weak performance suggests U.S. companies remain cautious about spending amid weak global demand and a strengthening dollar. Severe winter weather has also likely played a role in recent economic softness, as home builders pulled back on new construction and consumers spent less at retailers and restaurants.
The legislation from Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, a Los Angeles Democrat, would increase the paid family leave program up to 10 weeks instead of the current maximum of six weeks, and would increase wages earned during that time on a new formula based on a worker’s regular wages.
California’s new energy efficiency regulations, which started being enforced last summer, dramatically boost costs for owners of older homes when they need major maintenance on their systems for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. That’s because ducts must be “R-8” insulated and certified to be free of leaks, a standard that can force total replacement for many houses built before 2008. . . The Energy Commission has also mandated construction industry software with epic performance problems. This is devouring dollars across the industry, as well as reducing the efficiency of new homes and commercial buildings.
In February, U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% from January, which pulled the annual inflation rate out of negative territory; it’s now zero. More important, core prices rose 0.16%, which nudged the annual rate up to 1.7% from 1.6%. It was the second upside surprise to core inflation in a row. The driver in January was firmer service prices, this month it was goods.
The so-called core consumer-price index climbed 0.2 percent for a second month, a Labor Department report showed Tuesday in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.1 percent increase. Prices overall also climbed 0.2 percent, the first advance in four months, as fuel costs stabilized.
There is now widespread agreement across the political spectrum that wage stagnation is the country’s key economic challenge. As EPI has documented for nearly three decades, wages for the vast majority of American workers have stagnated or declined since 1979 (Bivens et al. 2014). This is despite real GDP growth of 149 percent and net productivity growth of 64 percent over this period. In short, the potential has existed for adequate, widespread wage growth over the last three-and-a-half decades, but these economic gains have not trickled down to the vast majority.
Despite the large increases in economic inequality since 1970, American survey respondents exhibit no increase in support for redistribution, in contrast to the predictions from standard theories of redistributive preferences. . . In particular, the two groups who have most moved against income redistribution are the elderly and African-Americans, two groups relatively more reliant on it.