Free Republic

As cities contemplated doubling their minimum wage, conservatives warned that employers would flee. And that’s exactly what happened. Then as states contemplated doubling their statewide minimum wage, conservatives warned them again; but again their warnings were drowned out in the cacophonies of popular liberalism. So now California companies are already collecting bids from moving companies, and ordering new stationery for new digs in Arizona, Nevada, and of course, Texas. The destruction that minimum wage increases cause is no longer even denied by the left. Their politicians happily proudly admit the damage they do, even as they inflict these pains on...

And so the confusion remains: why did Yellen go uber dove three days ahead of a day in which the BLS reported that in March not only were 215K jobs created, more than the consensus 205K, if below last month's 245K, but in which average hourly earnings rebounded a solid 0.3%, above the 0.2% expected, and well above last month's -0.1% decline. Payrolls:  Wages:  However, the fly in the the ointment was that the unemployment rate picked up modestly from 4.9% to an above expectations 5.0%. This was due to a modest increase in the participation rate to 63%...

With both ISM Manufacturing and Services employment indices collapsing, endless headlines of layoffs, Challenger-Grey noting Q1 as the worst since 2009, and NFIB small business hiring weak, it is no surprise that initial jobless claims is finally waking up. For the 3rd week in a row - the longest streak since July 2015. The last 3 weeks have seen a 9.1% surge in jobless claims - the biggest such rise since April 2014.  And finally, as Challenger-Grey notes, Through the first quarter of 2016, employers announced 184,920 job cuts, up 31.8 percent from the 140,241 cuts tracked the first three...

More Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but applications still stayed near historic lows that point to a stable job market. […] Weekly jobless claims have remained below the crucial threshold of 300,000 for more than a year, a level that usually corresponds with monthly gains in excess of 200,000. Economists expect that Friday’s jobs report will show that employers hired roughly 200,000 workers in February as the unemployment rate held at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent. …

Did you know that when you take the number of working age Americans that are officially unemployed (8.2 million) and add that number to the number of working age Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force” (94.3 million), that gives us a grand total of 102.5 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now? I have written about this before, but today I want to focus just on Americans that are in their prime working years. When you look at only Americans that are from age 25 to age 54, 23.2 percent...

California lawmakers and union leaders have reached a tentative deal to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is expected to make the formal announcement as early as Monday. According to the L.A. Times, the minimum wage will jump from $10 to $10.50 an hour in 2017 and will increase by $1 every year after that until reaching $15 an hour in 2022. Business with fewer than 25 employees will have an extra year to comply. "The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating...

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week while revisions for prior weeks showed the labor market was much stronger than previously thought. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000 for the week ended March 19, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's claims were revised to show 6,000 fewer applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 268,000 in the latest week. The government also revised data going back to 2011, which showed claims trending lower than previously reported. Claims for...

A black Donald Trump supporter told Breitbart News that a border wall was necessary to get black Americans back into work, citing Harlem’s construction industry.

Jobs were good; earnings were a disaster - that's the best summary of today's jobs report. As we noted earlier, February suffered the biggest ever monthly drop in average weekly earnings, because not only did hourly earnings drop but so did hours worked, resulting in far lower overall weekly wages.  What caused this? Nothing our readers don't already know: recall that in January, "70% Of Jobs Added In January Were Minimum Wage Waiters And Retail Workers."February was even worse: most of the jobs that were created, if only on a goalseeked, seasonally adjusted basis, were of the lowest paying,...

U.S. employers added a robust 242,000 workers in February as retailers, restaurants and health care providers drove another solid month for the resilient American job market. Retailers, restaurants and health care providers drove another solid month for the resilient American job market. The unemployment rate held steady at a low 4.9 percent. The Labor Department on Friday also revised up its estimated job growth for December and January by a combined 30,000. Over the past three months, U.S. employers have added a strong 228,000 to their payrolls. The pickup in job gains shows that the U.S. economy has weathered a...

Despite the unemployment rate being at an eight-year low (4.9 percent as of January 2016), the number of people on food stamps remains near an all-time high which was 47,636,000 in 2013. Why the disparity in the numbers? Well, the unemployment rate does not take into account people who are not in, or have dropped out of, the workforce altogether. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January of this year that approximately 94 million Americans are not participating in the workforce. But the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been hovering around 46 million participants since 2011. ...

The most recent data on California’s labor force participation rate (the percentage of California adults employed or looking for work) show the rate continuing to decline the past few years, even as job growth is very strong. Why is this? Should workforce practitioners and policymakers in California be concerned? How much does the rate represent increased discouragement among our workforce?Let’s start with the data, turning to EDD’s Labor Market Information Division. Mr. Brandon Hooker of the Division has compiled the chart above (click to enlarge) that tracks the declining labor force participation rate in California since December 2007. The rate...

The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment.

Donald Trump seems quite certain that the real unemployment rate is higher than the 4.9 percent that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported it to be. A lot higher. "Don't believe these phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment," Mr. Trump said in his victory speech after the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night. "The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent." Mr. Trump might be bombastic, but he's not entirely wrong. And the ways in which he is wrong are actually useful for anyone who wants to...

Americans are quitting their jobs like crazy, and this is good news for wages. The latest monthly "Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey" (JOLTS) showed that in December, the total number of quits was 3.1 million, the highest level in a decade, while the quits rate was 2.1%, the highest since April 2008. This rate, which takes the number of quits divided by the number of employees who worked or were paid for work, is one of the labor-market metrics most closely watched by Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen. If people are quitting their jobs, it suggests that they are...

Although stock portfolios may be looking bleak with the sudden fall in the market indices, employment prospects for job seekers have never looked better. I don't have a crystal ball, but there are some strong indicators that 2016 has much to offer in terms of achieving our career aspirations. Currently there are more jobs available than job seekers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the current unemployment rate is trending downward, a positive sign for all us -- it was 4.9% in January, down from 5% the previous month. In some parts of our country, we have unemployment rates...

How would you react to the following news stories? Former Shoppers Fined $5,000 for No Longer Frequenting Nearby Mall Residents of Anytown, USA were surprised to receive invoices in the mail from their local county government Friday. The county identified people who used to shop in the local mall but, due to reports of muggings, rapes, and vehicle theft at the mall, switched to shopping at other, safer malls, or just doing it online. The thousand dollar a year fine was based on the estimated amount of revenue the mall says it lost due to their departure. Professional economists, when...

For more than seven years, Federal Reserve officials have touted their progress toward achieving "full employment," with the most recent target a 4.9 percent unemployment rate. With Friday's nonfarm payrolls report showing that the goal has been achieved, perhaps the Fed can raise the "Mission Accomplished" banner along with a welcome mat to the world of "full employment." The jobless rate last reached this level in February 2008, following a run from June 2005 to April 2008 during which unemployment never eclipsed 5 percent. Getting a "4-handle" on the number -- using Wall Street lingo -- was supposed to represent...

"Americans are working," President Obama proudly declared at a White House press conference Friday morning. He was referring to the new jobs report that revealed unemployment has dropped to 4.9 percent - the first time it's fallen below 5 percent in 8 years. The president also remarked on how his administration has added 14 million new jobs over his tenure and that over the past 6 months wages have risen at an impressive rate. He couldn't help pointing to falling gas prices as well. After gleefully sharing these new numbers, Obama quipped that the supposedly successful economy is "inconvenient" for...