The challengers contend public-sector unions are effectively engaging in political lobbying when they negotiate contract terms with school boards and other government agencies. The plaintiffs say forced union contributions compel public employees to subsidize speech with which they disagree, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
About 30,000 teachers pay CTA’s “agency fees” without being members, but it’s believed that should the court end compulsory payment, as many as a third of its members would drop out, which could mean a $100 million loss of annual income.
Authors Bart Hobijn and Alexander Nussbacher write “there is evidence that differences in propensities to consume this additional income across households are smaller than commonly assumed.” What’s more, the ability to borrow is important, and can “provide the opportunity for lower-income households to smooth their consumption and maintain it at an acceptable level even when their incomes decline, thereby providing an alternative source of economic stimulus,” they said.
Key reasons include high-tech earners in Silicon Valley and the growing decline of middle-income households throughout the Bay Area.
The latest data on U.S. economic output paints a less bleak picture of the economy coming out of the first quarter. But the U.S. appears poised to match last year’s less-than-impressive first half.
Employment, state GDP, labor-law and tax data from 2000 to the present yield two strong lessons. First, a business-friendly climate—market-oriented labor policies and lower taxes—is effective in raising the growth in a state’s gross domestic product and employment. Second, states that suffered the worst employment shocks in the 2007-09 recession had the most rapid postrecession employment growth. This suggests that the weak national recovery cannot be explained by the depth of the recession.
History also makes clear that better macroeconomic policies can drive growth. President Reagan’s agenda—tax cuts, regulatory reforms and support of sound monetary policy—are a prominent example. After the deep recession of 1981-82, real GDP growth averaged 4.8% in the next 23 quarters. President Kennedy’s personal income-tax rate cuts in the mid-1960s and President Clinton’s tax reductions on capital accompanied by budget restraint in the late 1990s offer other examples of pro-growth policy improvements.
The Fed’s finding: “Currently, a little over a million workers are paid the federal minimum wage, and most of them are not employed full-time.” In addition, “A little less than a million workers are paid less than the federal minimum wage, a large majority of whom are employed full-time.”
Employer costs for employee compensation jumped 4.9% from a year earlier in March, the Labor Department said Wednesday, the second consecutive increase at that relatively robust level.
After taking a significant recession-era hit, California’s economy has bounced back up to the seventh largest in the world as the state’s gross domestic product reached $2.3 trillion in 2014, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Federal Reserve policies launched in a historic economic slump may have exacerbated wealth disparities in the U.S., according to new research from the Philadelphia Fed.
U.S. economic growth in the second quarter will be far weaker than previously expected and it will prevent the pace of growth from exceeding last year’s 2.4 percent, according to a forecast by a group of U.S. business economists.
After years of subpar growth, California is reaping the advantages of a fortuitous economic alignment of ultralow interest rates, high stock values and growing investments in high-end residential real estate. Vast sums are pouring into the state for new tech ventures, speculative hotel and residential developments. Low borrowing rates allow the state to keep pace with its massive debts, while buoyant stocks help the massive government pension plans, which invest in the market.
Despite the bad news, consumer spending and home building are rising. Real disposable personal income is roaring ahead at growth rates of 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015 and 3.6 percent at the end of 2014. Even the personal savings rate is up (5.5 percent so far this year and 6.2 percent at the end of 2014). These consumer factors are attributed to an increase in government social benefits, though, and not to jobs and economic prosperity. Social Security makes payments to more than 64 million Americans and nearly 3 million more receive federal government retirement checks. More than 20 percent of the US population is basically living on fixed-incomes.
Economic activity in the [12th] District expanded at a moderate pace during the reporting period of early April to late May. Overall price inflation firmed somewhat, while wage gains picked up a bit but remained moderate on balance. Retail sales and demand for consumer services grew moderately. Manufacturing activity was mixed but appeared to have been flat overall. Agricultural output expanded. Real estate activity strengthened, predominantly in the multifamily sector. Lending activity expanded, largely spurred by growth in real estate financing.