On Aug. 11, a federal judge in the Northern District of California shot down a rule proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that would have allowed the wind industry to legally kill bald eagles and golden eagles for up to three decades.
And little of that has gone toward creating “clean energy.” Funding recipients have frittered away millions completing paperwork—energy surveys, audits, data analytics—to meet California Energy Commission’s guidelines, which require $1.05 of energy savings for every dollar spent. Schools have spent more than half of the $297 million that they’ve received on consultants and auditors. As if California’s regulatory compliance industry needed more work.
In at least a half-dozen of those communities, the pay-floor ordinances include a provision allowing unions to waive the wage mandates as part of a collective-bargaining agreement.
According to a study released Monday by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, the U.S. economy now has about 1 million more jobs in occupations that rank in the top third of income and 800,000 more in the bottom third. The middle third, however, has yet to recover the jobs lost during the recession.
Job openings slipped to 5.25 million in June, down from a record 5.36 million in May, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as Jolts.
The contradiction of modern climate liberals is that they promise lower energy bills and a wind-and-solar jobs boom, with zero trade-offs. But then they demand more redistribution to mitigate the economic and human damage that are the real outcome of their policies. Instead of offering to weatherize the homes of the least fortunate, how about trying to increase prosperity?
Californian cities continued their reign atop the list of most-expensive markets, with San Jose commanding a median sales price of $980,000.
But never mind: If every car in America were electric and recharged using only renewables, the impact would be less than 2% of global emissions. Even the new Obama power-plant rules, which would be far more consequential, would prevent only 0.03 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100 (and then only if climate models predicting substantial warming are right).
Far from turning into a nation of gig workers, Americans are becoming slightly less likely to be self-employed, and less prone to hold multiple jobs. Official government data shows around 95% of those who report having jobs are accounted for on the formal payroll of U.S. employers, little changed from a decade ago.
In a report on the functioning of the carbon market as a financial exchange, the European Union’s Luxembourg-based independent auditors urge the bloc’s executive arm and national governments to improve monitoring of cross-border sales of emissions allowances and come up with a common legal definition.
The slight pullback in hiring during the first quarter from its exceedingly strong pace late last year dropped the 12-month pace of job gains to 2.94 million, a solid number but nevertheless the lowest annual figure since November.
U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.3% from May’s 5.5%, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 233,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5.4%.
The U.S. job market sits at a crossroads six years into a fitful economic expansion: Hiring is strong, but weak wage growth has failed to pull millions of would-be workers off the sidelines while prompting others to drop out of the labor force.
. . . use of the chargers is included in the price of a Tesla, and advertised as being “free for life.” While many of its rivals spend big money on advertising, Tesla has invested millions of dollars in charging stations meant to be an extra incentive for buyers to consider its pricey electric car.
The challengers contend public-sector unions are effectively engaging in political lobbying when they negotiate contract terms with school boards and other government agencies. The plaintiffs say forced union contributions compel public employees to subsidize speech with which they disagree, in violation of their First Amendment rights.