05/05/2024

News

Gross Domestic Product, 3rd Quarter 2013 (Advance Estimate)

Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013 (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.5 percent.

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Boeing’s Plan to Build 777X Airliner in Washington a Blow to Southern California

Southern California’s aerospace industry took another one on the chin when Boeing reached a tentative agreement with a machinists union to build the new 777X airliner in the Seattle area instead of at other possible sites, including Long Beach.

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Supplemental Measure of Poverty Remains Unchanged

The nation’s poverty rate was 16.0 percent in 2012, unchanged from 2011, according to the supplemental poverty measure released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2012 rate was higher than the official measure of 15.0 percent. The official poverty rate in 2012 was also not significantly different from the corresponding rate in 2011.

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Supplemental Measure of Poverty Remains Unchanged

The nation’s poverty rate was 16.0 percent in 2012, unchanged from 2011, according to the supplemental poverty measure released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2012 rate was higher than the official measure of 15.0 percent. The official poverty rate in 2012 was also not significantly different from the corresponding rate in 2011.

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Report: College Promise Bypassing Latinos

Latinos are the fastest growing population of the state’s students, but they have the lowest college graduation rates, according a new report by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Campaign for College Opportunity.

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Power Bills Squeeze Italian Business

Business associations have recently become so vocal about power costs that Italy’s economic development ministry is scrambling for new ideas. Among them: a proposal to issue bonds to help pay for the 12 billion euros a year that Italy spends on subsidies to the renewable energy industry and that ends up in everyone’s energy bill.

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California Must Adopt Aggressive Climate-Change Policies, Report Says

California will fall short of its goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury unless it adopts aggressive policies to fight climate change, a new report says.

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Calpers Doubles Bonus Payouts to Employees as Losses Recouped

Calpers, as the fund is known, said it paid 130 employees and executives $7.7 million in bonuses last year, more than twice the $3.6 million in the previous year. Chief Investment Officer Joe Dear got $321,750 in addition to his half-million dollar base pay. Three investment officers were paid more than $200,000 each, according to data provided by the fund.

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US Forecast: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is US

Despite headwinds and unnecessary shocks created by the political discord in Washington DC, the U.S. economy managed to bounce back for 2 plus percent GDP growth in the second and third quarter of 2013.

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Halve the Gap by 2030: Youth Disconnection in America’s Cities

Just over a year ago, Measure of America published its initial research on the epidemic of youth disconnection called One in Seven. This report updates last year’s findings with the latest numbers and, to better map the landscape of youth disconnection, also presents the data by neighborhood cluster for each of the twenty-five most populous US metro areas.

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US States in a Global Context, Results from the 2011 NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study

Educators and policymakers throughout the United States continue to debate the international competitiveness of their students. The ability of the United States to thrive in the growing global economy is influenced by how well our students compete internationally. Results from 2011 TIMSS(Footnote 1)

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Factories Shurg Off Shutdown

U.S. factories notched their fifth straight month of expansion in October, bucking expectations that the federal government’s 16-day shutdown would chill activity.

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Fast Food, Low Pay–and Sometimes a High Cost

That figure made headlines last month after researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, reported that front-line workers at fast-food restaurants, and their families, receive at least $7 billion a year in public benefits to supplement their wages—typically, under $9 an hour. The authors described the amount as “”the public cost of low-wage jobs in the fast-food industry.

Other researchers dispute that interpretation. They say the cost to the public would be higher without those jobs. And if fast-food restaurants raised their wages, that wouldn’t guarantee a corresponding decline in benefits: Some restaurants might automate functions and cut jobs, and some benefits remain available to workers making higher salaries.

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Jobless Claims in US Drop as California Clears Backlog

Jobless claims decreased by 10,000 to 340,000 in the week ended Oct. 26 from 350,000 the prior period, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a decrease to 338,000. California said no claims last week represented applications from prior weeks, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press.

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Prepare for the Worst Holiday Season Since 2008, Morgan Stanley Says

A new report from the financial services firm anticipates the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year to be the slowest and most promotion-heavy since 2008, which was the first holiday season affected by the recession.

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