Seven metro areas had an unemployment rate of 10% or higher in April . . . Five of those seven areas are in California. El Centro, Calif., led all metro areas in the U.S. with a 20.1% jobless rate in April. It was followed by Yuma, Ariz.; Merced, Calif.; Ocean City, N.J.; Visalia-Porterville, Calif.; Bakersfield, Calif.; and Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
Growth averaged 3% between 1980 and 2007. Since then it has averaged 1.2%. That suggests the economy’s underlying potential growth rate—what’s possible with the available work force and its productivity—has downshifted. That has left the economy 11% smaller than what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office thought, before the recession, would be achievable by now.
The broader economy seems on track to rebound after a weak performance over the past few quarters. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced across the U.S. economy, expanded at a 0.8% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first three months of 2016, the Commerce Department said in updated figures out Friday. That was up from an initial estimate of 0.5% growth but still represented a deceleration from the fourth quarter’s 1.4% growth rate.
U.S. factories have seen better days. Slow global growth and a strong dollar are weighing on manufacturers’ international ambitions. But a solid U.S. job market and still-low interest rates are supporting factories focused on domestic customers. That divide, as the Journal reported Monday, is showing up throughout recent manufacturing reports.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has again drawn the wrath of the White House for calling attention to the rising violence in urban areas. Homicides increased 9% in the largest 63 cities in the first quarter of 2016; nonfatal shootings were up 21%, according to a Major Cities Chiefs Association survey. Those increases come on top of last year’s 17% rise in homicides in the 56 biggest U.S. cities, with 10 heavily black cities showing murder spikes above 60%.
Global industrial giants are struggling under the weight of a strong dollar, reeling commodity markets and weak demand in emerging and advanced economies alike, from Brazil to Europe to China. But domestically oriented U.S. manufacturers are faring better, with steadier business buoyed by the relatively brighter auto, housing and job markets.
But typically when people talk about the sharing economy or gig economy, they’re talking about platforms that allow people to rent out rooms in their homes, or use their cars to give people rides or deliver groceries. And for now, these are much less common. Only 15% of adults have used ride-hailing services, like those offered by Uber and Lyft. Only 6% have ever had their groceries delivered, and only 4% have hired someone online to perform errands and tasks. . . Three-quarters are not familiar with the term “sharing economy” and 89% are unfamiliar with the term “gig economy.”
The new Tax Policy Center study, from Steve Rosenthal and Lydia Austin, documents the growth of tax-advantaged investing. Just 24% of corporate stock is owned by taxable individuals, down from 84% in 1965. The remaining 76% includes tax-exempt investors such as endowments, mostly exempt foreign investors and retirement plans, which pay a second layer of tax at ordinary income-tax rates, but benefit from what can be decades of tax deferral.
Economic gauges released Tuesday showed a pickup in industrial output, continued momentum in the housing sector and firming inflation all pointing to stronger—though still unspectacular—growth in the second quarter. That joined other recent data showing a rebound in retail sales, rising consumer confidence and continued job gains.
In February, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen nearly 15%, concerns grew that the U.S. economy was slipping into recession. Those fears have since subsided in financial markets, but most economists continue to see an elevated risk of the U.S. falling into a new recession within the next 12 months.
The report from the American Society of Civil Engineers paints a dismal picture of the country’s economy in the decades ahead unless local, state and federal governments dramatically increase their infrastructure spending. Funding gaps could cost the economy almost $4 trillion and 2.5 million jobs by 2025 and $14.2 trillion and 5.8 million jobs by 2040, the report said.
The slow price gains were accompanied by rising incomes and a savings rate that matched the highest level since 2012, suggesting caution on the part of consumers despite a robust labor market.
The U.S. economy stumbled out of the gate in 2016 as consumers and businesses showed renewed signs of caution, underscoring the uneven growth that has been a hallmark of the nearly seven-year expansion.
When did Americans decide that 1% or 2% economic growth is acceptable, that puny wage increases are inevitable, and that we should all merely shrug and get used to the country’s diminished expectations? Those questions come to mind watching the desultory reactions to Thursday’s report that the U.S. economy grew by a meager 0.5% in the first quarter of 2016.
In many states you can’t so much as get a haircut or have a manicure unless the person performing the service has an occupational license. Last summer, the White House released a report targeting this tangled maze of job-licensing requirements, and saying that trimming the thicket would improve the economy.