Free Republic

The U.S. private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, according to new data from payroll-processing firm ADP, marking a sharp reversal from expectations of continued employment growth and raising fresh concerns about the labor market’s trajectory. Economists surveyed by Econoday had forecast a gain of 103,000 jobs for the month. Instead, the report released Wednesday morning showed the first monthly decline in private-sector employment since January 2021. Manufacturing, which had been a weak spot in the labor market, added a solid 15,000 jobs. Construction added 9,000 jobs. Natural resources and mining, which includes oil and natural gas extraction, added 8,000...

The Big Apple has gotten smaller again. Nearly 78,000 residents fled New York City last year, shrinking its population down to 8.26 million people, according to the latest census estimates released on Thursday and first reported by the New York Times. In 2022, more than 126,000 New Yorkers moved out of the city. Between April 2020 and July 2023, which coincided with the height of the COVID pandemic, the city experienced a mass exodus of 550,000 residents, shrinking its population by more than 6%.

New IRS data shows California residents of all ages and incomes fled for more tax-friendly climatesCalifornia residents of all ages and incomes are leaving for more tax friendly climates, and they’re taking billions of dollars in annual income with them. The Internal Revenue Service recently released its latest taxpayer migration figures from tax years 2018 and 2019. They reflect migratory taxpayers who had filed in a different state or county between 2017 and 2018, of which 8 million did in that timespan. California, the nation’s most-populous state, lost more tax filers and dependents on net than any other state. Minus...

The U.S. economy shrank in the second quarter by the fastest rate since the government began keeping track of gross domestic product after World War II, as lockdowns aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic decimated economic activity. Gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced by the economy, contracted at a 32.9 percent seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the April through June three month period, according to the preliminary estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis published on Thursday. That marked the steepest drop on records stretching back to 1947 and compared with economists’ forecasts for...