Already paying some of the highest electricity prices in the country, customers of California’s largest utility, PG&E Corp. could soon face large rate increases due to the state’s catastrophic wildfires. PG&E asked state regulators on Thursday to approve a plan to sharply increase revenues it seeks from customers over a three-year period, with a hike […]
President Trump’s top economic adviser said the administration is looking to eliminate subsidies on electric cars, a move that could hamper the auto industry’s push to broaden the market for battery-powered vehicles. “As a matter of our policy, we want to end all those subsidies,” Lawrence Kudlow said on Monday. “And by the way, other […]
The global economic outlook is shifting, which could lead to new turbulence in markets and Washington in 2019. The past year was marked by strong U.S. economic growth, supported by a burst of fiscal stimulus from federal tax cuts and spending increases. That, in turn, underpinned profit growth and the Federal Reserve’s decision to dial […]
A national project to replace millions of gasoline-fueled taxis, buses and trucks with new electric models is boosting China’s ambitions to lead the global shift to battery-powered transportation. When it comes to the commercial electric-vehicle market, “China is the only one in the race; it’s all Chinese manufacturers,” said Sandra Retzer, the Beijing-based head of […]
France’s violent Yellow Vest protests are now about many domestic concerns, but it’s no accident that the trigger was a fuel-tax hike. Nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation. The fault line runs between anti-carbon policies and economic growth, and France is a test for the […]
U.S. employers slowed their hiring in November, but wage growth matched the highest rate in nearly a decade and unemployment held at its lowest level in nearly half a century, signs of a strong economy that could be losing some momentum at the end of a banner year. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 155,000 […]
In 2009, mired in the depths of recession, Ohio’s unemployment trust fund went broke, prompting the state to borrow $2.6 billion from the federal government so it could keep sending checks to unemployed workers. Now, with the state unemployment rate down to 4.4%, the debt has been repaid and the trust fund has started to […]
A California regulator said late Thursday that it was expanding a probe of PG&E Corp.’s P safety practices to explore the way the company is managed and run, including whether it should be broken up. “I will open a new phase examining the corporate governance, structure, and operation of PG&E, including in light of the […]
The tide of medical-marijuana legalization making its way through American states is leading to a notable uptick in the birth of babies, according to a new paper published by the National Bureau for Economic Research. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 33 states and Washington, D.C., allow the once verboten drug to be […]
Retail spending by American households rose in October, a sign outlays started on a strong footing headed into the holiday shopping season. Sales at retail stores and restaurants rose 0.8% from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That exceeded the 0.5% increase economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected.
Google is gearing up for an expansion of its New York City real estate that could add space for more than 12,000 new workers, an amount nearly double the search giant’s current staffing in the city, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, would give Google room for […]
Tuesday’s election highlighted that more voters like Donald Trump’s policies than like him. Consider this week’s voter embrace of Mr. Trump’s pro-growth energy positions, via nationwide rejection of initiatives to raise energy costs. Most notable was Washington State’s defeat of a carbon tax for the second time in two years. Climate activists designed the 2016 […]
Unfilled jobs in the U.S. exceeded the number of unemployed Americans by more than one million as the summer came to a close, a sign it is increasingly difficult for employers to find workers. There were a seasonally adjusted 7.01 million job openings on the last business day of September, the Labor Department said Tuesday. […]
A new study of Seattle’s minimum wage is being presented in some corners as a progressive vindication. But the details are pretty much what any Econ 101 student would predict: bad news for young, unskilled workers trying to gain a foothold in the economy. In 2015-16, Seattle phased in a wage floor of $13 an […]
Compensation for U.S. workers grew at an accelerating rate in the third quarter, a sign a historically tight labor market is yielding better pay for employees. The employment-cost index, a measure of wages and benefits for civilian workers, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in July through September, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The gain was […]