U.S. employers are boosting benefits—including bonuses and vacation time—at a faster pace than salaries, a move that gives them more flexibility to dial back that compensation if the economy turns sour. The cost of benefits for private-sector employers rose 3% in June from a year earlier, while the cost of wages and salaries advanced 2.7%, […]
American incomes rose and poverty declined for the third consecutive year in 2017, according to census figures released Wednesday that suggest more Americans are benefiting from the robust economy. The new data, which provide a broad look at U.S. economic well-being, show that median household income increased to $61,372 last year, up 1.8% when adjusted […]
Newly released federal estimates show California’s poverty rate remained the highest in the nation, despite a modest fall, and the state’s falling uninsured rate slowed for the first time since before Medicaid expansion. According to the Census Bureau, the share of Californians in poverty fell to 19 percent — a 1.4 percent decrease from last […]
California’s role as a global climate leader will take center stage during the international climate conference hosted by Governor Jerry Brown in San Francisco this week. The world also needs to know that California is our nation’s housing crisis, homelessness, and poverty leader. We have highest percentage and highest number of homeless and poor people […]
Historically, liberals advocated helping the middle class achieve greater independence, notably by owning houses and starting companies. But the tech oligarchy — the people who run the five most capitalized firms on Wall Street — have a far less egalitarian vision. Greg Fehrenstein, who interviewed 147 digital company founders, says most believe that “an increasingly […]
The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2018 is 4.7 percent on September 4, up from 4.1 percent on August 30. The nowcasts of third-quarter real consumer spending growth and third-quarter real private fixed investment growth increased from 3.0 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively, to […]
The rules that determine who can legally work in an occupation and provide particular services—known as occupational licensure—affect a wide swath of workers and are important constraints on how the labor market and economy function. Despite a welcome increase in discussions of occupational licensing in recent years, and a body of research dating back decades, […]
8. California 5 yr. GDP annual growth rate: +2.9% (2nd largest increase) 2017 GDP: $2.4 trillion (the largest) June 2018 Unemployment: 4.2% (tied — 18th highest) 5 yr. annual employment growth: +2.2% (8th largest increase) California’s economy grew at an annual rate of 2.9% from 2012 through 2017, the second fastest pace of any state.
Just more than half of U.S. workers—51%—said they were satisfied with their jobs in 2017, the highest level since 2005, according to a new report from The Conference Board, a business-research group. Over the past seven years, Americans report feeling better about their pay along with a greater sense of job security, both features of […]
Americans’ consumer confidence rose in August to the highest level in nearly 18 years as their assessment of current conditions improved further and their expectations about the future rebounded. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 133.4 in August, up from a reading 127.9 in July. It was the highest […]
Economic growth was stronger during the second quarter than earlier estimated, although growth in a key measure of U.S. corporate profits moderated from the first quarter. Gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced across the economy—rose at a 4.2% annual rate in the second quarter, adjusted for seasonality and inflation, the Commerce […]
Only half of California’s families will be able to find a spot in a preschool for their children when school begins, but at Twin Rivers Unified many of the seats are going unclaimed. Many districts say it’s the stringent state and federal income eligibility requirements that are keeping students away from preschool and leaving seats […]
This map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in a low-price state than in […]
California still has the nation’s highest poverty rate when you take into account the state’s high cost of living. But the number of people living in poverty here has dropped since the beginning of the decade. There were nearly 600,000 fewer impoverished Californians in 2016 than in 2011, according to the Public Policy Institute of […]
Increasingly we hear the idea there’s something wrong with wanting people to work. We hear welfare recipients shouldn’t be expected to work. We hear that requiring people to do work or activities in return for welfare is exploitation and wrong. That moving people from welfare to work is unfair because they’ll become part of the […]