03/29/2024

News

California loses jobs in March, though unemployment stays at a record low

In a signal that California’s economic engine could be slowing after a remarkable run, the state lost 7,200 net jobs last month and increases in February were far less than originally estimated, according to data released Friday by the Employment Development Department. The decline was the first in nearly two years and follows a disappointing […]

Read More

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Hold Below 300,000 for Longest Streak on Record

The number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits has never been so low for so long. Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., decreased by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 233,000 in the week ended April 7, the Labor Department said Thursday. This means claims have now held below 300,000 for 162 […]

Site has paywall
Read More

U.S. Job Growth Slowed in March; Unemployment Rate Held at 4.1%

Hiring slowed in March from February’s robust pace and the unemployment rate held at a 17-year low, consistent with a tight but not overheating labor market producing modest wage gains. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 103,000 in March—the smallest gain in six months, the Labor Department said Friday. It was a pullback from […]

Site has paywall
Read More

California Unemployment Rate Fell to 4.3 Percent in February

California’s unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent in February as the state’s employers added 14,000 nonfarm payroll jobs. The state Employment Development Department said Friday that the figure is a new record low. The unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in January and 5.1 percent in February 2017.

Read More

U.S. Employers Added 313,000 Jobs in February

Robust hiring is drawing people into the U.S. labor market, a healthy mix that suggests the economy can run strong without overheating and forcing the Federal Reserve to curb growth with aggressive interest-rate increases.

Site has paywall
Read More

Opinion: What Will Finally Lift Wages for Middle Earners

The civilian labor-force-participation rate peaked in the 1990s, and has been falling steadily ever since. There are many factors that have been driving this lower, including demographics. The gender differential is noteworthy: For men, labor-force participation began moving steadily lower right after World War II around 1948; for women, it peaks around 1999, started drifting […]

Read More

U.S. Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level Since 1969

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since December 1969, offering fresh evidence of health in the labor market. Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 210,000 in the week ended Feb. 24, the Labor […]

Site has paywall
Read More

Why Are People in Red States Dropping Out of the Labor Force?

Though the labor market has grown robustly nationwide this year, progress has been uneven across blue states and red states. An increasing number of people in red states have stopped looking for work, while a larger share of people in blue states are actively in the workforce.

Site has paywall
Read More

Unemployment falls to record-low territory in California, Sacramento

Statewide unemployment also fell sharply in November, to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent a month earlier. The 4.6 percent statewide rate is the lowest since 1976, according to data compiled by economist Sung Won Sohn of CSU Channel Islands. The EDD said California employers added 47,400 workers to their payrolls last month. Although much of the job growth in November was seasonal, as employers geared up for the holidays, the new numbers also dovetail with other signs that the economy has been continuing to perk along in recent months.

Slow website
Read More

US jobless rates fell in 24 states, record lows in 5

Unemployment rates dropped to record lows in Alabama, California, Hawaii, Mississippi and Texas in November. The Labor Department’s report on state unemployment showed rates fell in 19 other states, a positive sign for U.S. economic growth. Over the past 12 months, 27 states have added payroll jobs – with largest absolute gains in Texas, where the number of jobs climbed 330,600. California was second in job additions with 288,300. Job totals have essentially been unchanged in 23 other states. Hawaii reported the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 2 percent. The unemployment rate was below 2.7 percent in Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Dakota. In total, 17 states have unemployment rates below this national average of 4.1 percent.

Read More

Is California Already In Recession?

Unfortunately for Governor Brown, the recession he fears may already have arrived in California. The following chart showing the trailing twelve month averages of California’s civilian labor force and number of employed is one that we’ve adapted from a different project to show that data in the context of the state’s higher-than-federal minimum wage increases and periods of negative GDP growth for the national economy. It shows that in 2017, the size of the state’s labor force has peaked and begun to decline in 2017, while the number of employed shows very slow to stagnant growth during the year.

Read More

U.S. Employers Hire at Healthy Rate in November

The economy appears to be on its firmest footing in at least a decade, with hiring picking up from earlier this year and the unemployment rate holding at a 17-year low in November.

Read More

The Incredible Shrinking Workforce

When the latest jobs report comes out Friday, look beyond the top-line number. For months now economists have suggested that the low unemployment rate—4.1% as of last month’s report—implies that America is at or near full employment. Yet the labor market is still below its prerecession peak, with about two million jobs missing. Many of those workers have joined the disability rolls. Others have simply dropped out of the workforce in favor of leisure time.

Site has paywall
Read More

BuzzFeed Plans Job Cuts, Business Reorganization After Revenue Miss

Facing a significant revenue shortfall this year, BuzzFeed is laying off about 100 employees and reorganizing its advertising sales and business operations as it moves away from relying purely on native advertising. BuzzFeed plans to reduce its U.S. staff by 8%, with all the cuts coming from the business and sales side of the organization, the company said Wednesday. Some editorial staffers and business-side employees in the U.K. will also be let go. BuzzFeed employs about 1,700 people world-wide.

Read More

California’s jobless rate fell below 5% in October as employers added 31,700 jobs

California posted strong job gains in October, as the Golden State’s economic engine pushed the unemployment rate down to 4.9% from 5.1% a month earlier.

In all, the state added 31,700 net new jobs last month, according to data released Friday by the Employment Development Department.

The report marked the first time since March that employers added jobs in consecutive months, boosting confidence in an economy that has slowed somewhat from last year.

Read More