Unemployment in the U.S. has fallen to one of the lowest levels of the post-World War II era, the result of a historically long jobs expansion that shows little evidence of slowing. The jobless rate fell to 3.9% in April from 4.1% a month earlier, hitting the lowest level since December 2000, the Labor Department […]
•Compared to 10 years ago, average annual pay for low-wage earners in California — people making under $27,000 on average — has increased by only 17 percent. Middle-income earners — those making an average of $55,000 — have seen wages rise 29 percent. High-wage earners — those making an average of $83,000 — have seen […]
One-in-four parents living with a child in the United States today are unmarried. Driven by declines in marriage overall, as well as increases in births outside of marriage, this marks a dramatic change from a half-century ago, when fewer than one-in-ten parents living with their children were unmarried (7%). At the same time, the profile […]
Finland’s two-year pilot scheme started in January 2017, making it the first European country to test an unconditional basic income. The 2,000 participants – all unemployed – were chosen randomly. But it will not be extended after this year, as the government is now examining other schemes for reforming the Finnish social security system. . […]
Taking a job as a manicurist in California requires more than filling out an application and receiving an offer from an employer. Manicurists have to have at least 400 hours of training, which can cost thousands of dollars. They must also take a written and practical exam. The government-created barrier to a career in hair […]
U.S. economic growth slowed in the first quarter, largely the result of a deceleration in consumer spending that hit even though tax cuts fattened the wallets of many American households. Gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., adjusted for inflation—rose at an annual rate of 2.3% for the months […]
Economic activity in the Twelfth District continued to expand at a moderate pace during the reporting period of late February through early April. Conditions in the labor market remained tight, and upward wage pressures persisted. Price inflation increased modestly. Sales of retail goods were down slightly, while growth in consumer and business services remained solid. […]
Average hourly earnings increased 2.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, from March 2017 to March 2018. The increase in average hourly earnings combined with a 0.6-percent increase in the average workweek and a 2.4-percent change in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) resulted in a 0.9-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this […]
Spending at U.S. retailers bounced back in March, but the broader trend in consumer spending shows moderate growth despite a solid labor market and growing worker paychecks. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales reversed three straight months of declines in March, rising 0.6% from the prior month thanks largely to a bump in auto […]
Economic inequality is one of the most significant issues facing cities and entire nations today. But a mounting body of research suggests that housing inequality may well be the biggest contributor to our economic divides. Thomas Piketty’s influential book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, put economic inequality—and specifically, wealth inequality—front and center in the global […]
California should do more to address homelessness. Currently, California has more people experiencing homelessness (the homeless population) than any other state in the nation, and it does a poor job of sheltering this vulnerable population. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2017 annual homelessness report to Congress (2017 homeless report), […]
Inequality in U.S. housing prices and rents both declined in the mid-20th century, even as home-ownership rates rose. Subsequently, housing-price inequality has risen to pre-War levels, while rent inequality has risen less. Combining both measures, we see inequality in housing consumption equivalents mirroring patterns in income across both space and time, according to an income […]
In the postwar era, developed economies have experienced two substantial trends in the net capital share of aggregate income: a rise during the last several decades, which is well known, and a fall of comparable magnitude that continued until the 1970s, which is less well known. Overall, the net capital share has increased since 1948, […]
Southern California’s weekly wages have hit record highs with old-fashioned help: workers getting extra work. The pay peaks were revealed in regional pay data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showing that local bosses are upping how long workers are on the clock as well as hourly pay. My trusty spreadsheet tells me […]
More than 28,000 international gaming professionals recently congregated at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, where they tested the latest VR tech and sampled hundreds of indie games. But some attendees, many of whom traveled thousands of miles for the annual convention, found the city streets outside the Game Developers Conference (GDC) inhospitable, the sights disturbing. […]