Average hourly earnings advanced 2.3% from a year earlier in November, the Labor Department said Friday, a pace that’s roughly been maintained over the past two years. That streak of steady wage gains has coincided with the economy adding an average of 234,000 jobs per month since November 2013, a clear acceleration compared with earlier in the expansion.
The U.S. economy has added 2.6 million jobs over the prior 12 months. That is down from a high of 3.2 million registered in February, and the lowest 12-month total since May 2014.
A significant portion of the decline in unemployment, however, is because many Californians have given up looking for work. Labor force participation in October was barely 62 percent, below the historic low in 1976. For those not around way back then, those were the dark years of “stagflation” – the triple whammy of slow economic growth, high unemployment and rising prices.
The harder part, especially for states like California that rely so heavily on high-skilled workers, is to keep the momentum going when there is no slack in the system to draw from. Not only will education be a critical area of focus, but the state’s employers will also have to recruit skilled workers from other parts of the nation and world. And, as Beacon Economics has pointed out for some time, that will require addressing the chronic under-supply of housing and keeping home price growth in check.
The Census Bureau’s 2012 decision to begin releasing an alternative measure of poverty that included cost of living has appeared to have far-reaching effects in California as politicians, community leaders and residents react to the new measure’s depiction of the Golden State as the most impoverished place in America.
Economic activity in the [12th] District grew at a moderate pace during the reporting period of early October to mid-November. Overall price inflation ticked up, and upward wage pressures increased further. Retail sales grew moderately, while demand for business and consumer services expanded. Manufacturing output was largely unchanged. Agricultural activity edged up modestly. Conditions in residential and commercial real estate markets continued to strengthen. Activity in the financial services sector expanded at a modest pace.
California gasoline typically costs more than in the rest of the country because of higher taxes and fees as well as a unique state-mandated blend that produces less pollution. But this year the gap has widened into more of a gulf.
Across all states, the growth in total PCE by state accelerated to 4.2 percent in 2014 from 3.1 percent in 2013 (Table 1). This growth reflects the year-over-year change in current-dollar PCE by state. In 2014, growth in total PCE ranged from 2.1 percent in West Virginia to 7.4 percent in North Dakota, with more than 40 states growing faster than in 2013.
In its first year, the approximately $300 billion bill increases spending on highways by $2.1 billion above current levels. By the final year, in 2020, the bump will be $6.1 billion above the approximately $50 billion that has been spent in recent years.
Despite the prospects of heavy precipitation from El Niño, the Department of Water Resources said major reservoirs remain well below capacity and water must be used sparingly.
More recently, research has identified serious consequences to national economies, beyond the fact that many households cannot afford to live, much less buy a home in the metropolitan areas with excessive land use regulation. Because residents such area have less income to spend due to the higher house costs, job creation and economic growth are hobbled. Rising inequality is also being cited as a consequence of excessive land use regulation.
U.S. business investment advanced just 2.2% from a year earlier in the third quarter, a slowdown that marks one of the worse performances of the six-year-old economic expansion. The trend seems at odds with ultralow interest rates, consistent hiring and steady, if unspectacular, overall economic growth.
CEOs’ outlook on the economy declined for the third straight quarter, according to a Business Roundtable survey released Tuesday. The same survey showed that 27% expect to decrease capital spending over the next six months—the largest share planning to scale back investment since the middle of 2009, when the economy was just emerging from recession.
In response to a question posed annually in the fourth quarter, CEOs, once again, reported that regulation was the top cost pressure facing their businesses, followed by labor costs and health care costs.
A new study released today by the American Highway Users Alliance identifies America’s 50 worst bottlenecks and finds that the very worst bottleneck, as measured by hours of delay, is in Chicago, IL. Los Angeles, CA owns the next six of the top 10.
