Unemployment

The April 2010 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® showed across the board strength in US manufacturing. The index hit 60.5 percent, a 6 year high and well above the 50 percent demarcation line between recession and recovery. The…

The US turned in a fairly robust quarter in Q1 2010, with real GDP growth meeting expectations at 3.2% annualized. This comes on the back of a very robust annualized 5.6% growth in the previous quarter. This is the best growth two-quarter…

Informed researchers are asking what happens to China based on the recent demographic shift from rural labour surplus to rural labour deficit.  The answer may be slower growth and higher inflation, according to a paper released last…

I've been out all morning, but here are my thoughts on today's employment report. Before the numbers came out, I said I was looking for a mediocre report because that is the sort of not too hot, not too cold kind of report which won't…

Asia: Asian equities rallied on improving global growth prospects, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index advancing for its 6th consecutive session.  The 0.3% rise puts the index at its highest level since mid-Jan.  Of note, the…

All told, Friday's report could disappoint. But to a market preoccupied by the timing and size of the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate increase, a small job gain might actually be less traumatic than a supersize one. High…

Yesterday, I wrote a post which examined three different reasons the savings rate in the US could have been falling over the last year. Rebecca Wilder thinks this is a meaningless exercise: Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns is…

Economist's View: One of These Things is Not Like the Others Fed's balance sheet rises to record in latest week | Reuters Columbia Center misses mortgage payment | Seattle Times Newspaper FT Alphaville – Stacy-Marie Ishmael –…

Going forward, due to time constraints I will not be publishing a weekly jobless claims report. However, I will report on the data when they are significant. Early next month, a much anticipated non-farm payroll (NFP)number is coming out.…

Consider this: Despite a rising population, non-farm payrolls in the United States are lower than they were a decade ago. The unemployment challenge is not just cyclical, it is secular. Sectors of the economy with a challenge include…