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☆ Op-ed: U.S. inflation and jobs reports show fastest recovery in 30 years under Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Cecilia Rouse | Chair Of The Council Of Economic Advisers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The employment report earlier this month suggested U.S. employers added 517,000 jobs in January, well above what private forecasters were expecting. Over 12 million jobs have been created since President Joe Biden took office. At the same time, we have experienced the fastest jobs recovery from a recession in the last three decades. In January, the unemployment rate was 3.4%, with Black unemployment and unemployment for workers with less than a high school degree at near record lows. Looking back to where we were when President Biden came into office and the progress we have made is extraordinary.

☆ Biden to announce $34 billion Boeing and Air India deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Nikki Carvajal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Air India will purchase more than 200 planes from Boeing, a White House official says President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday. The agreement will include 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 20 Boeing 787s, and 10 Boeing 777Xs – a total of 220 firm orders valued at a list price of $34 billion, the official says. The purchase will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s, totaling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at list price. The company has not announced any sales to a Chinese passenger airline since November 2017, and the country banned the Boeing 737 Max for much longer than most countries. A Boeing 737 Max finally took off in China in January for the first time since 2019.

☆ Canada gains 150,000 jobs in January, jobless rate holds at 5.0%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Canada's economy gained a net 150,000 jobs in January, mostly in full-time work and far ahead of analyst forecasts, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday. The jobless rate held at 5.0%, beating forecasts it would rise to 5.1%. Employment in the goods producing sector grew by a net 25,400 jobs, largely in construction. Hourly wage figures are for permanent employees. (Reporting by Dale Smith; Editing by Ismail Shakil) ((ismail.shakil@tr.com))Keywords: CANADA ECONOMY/EMPLOYMENTOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Report says Americans are half as likely to be on vacation now as they were in the 80s, but why?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Washington Post analyzed vacation data over decades to find out why Americans take vacation less often than they used to. Many workers have PTO, personal days, and sick days lumped into the same pool of time. Blue-collar workers, such as construction workers, are the least likely to be on paid vacation, while teachers are the most likely to take time off. Older and more educated workers also are more likely to be on vacation, according to the Post. Also, workers' paid time off plans increasingly lump vacation, sick, and personal days into one category, the Post reported.

☆ Is the iPhone's 'Made in India' era beginning as Apple breaks with China?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said Apple was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India. His comments come at a time when Foxconn (HNHPF), a top Apple supplier, is looking to expand its operations in India after suffering severe supply disruptions in China. For years, Apple had relied on a vast manufacturing network in China to mass produce iPhones, iPads and other popular products. China headaches mountBut the world’s most valuable company posted shockingly weak earnings this month, partly because of its recent problems in China. According to Counterpoint’s Pathak, India accounts for 16% of the global smartphone production, while China constitutes 70%.

☆ More companies say they're giving bigger raises this year—here's how much to expect
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The biggest reasons for the generous raises are to temper turnover and help employees combat inflation, says Garry Straker, Salary.com's vice president of compensation consulting. Some 40% of HR leaders say it's more difficult to hire now than last year, and nearly a quarter say constant turnover is impacting their ability to hit business goals. Companies are planning for an average raise of 4.1% for workers, Straker says. But with the tech sector making up just 4% of the labor force, "layoffs do not seem to be ubiquitous," Straker says. Certainly layoffs are grabbing headlines, but there are a lot of employers still recruiting aggressively in the market."

☆ Premarket stocks: Here's what keeps Jerome Powell up at night and interest rates high
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Structural changes in the labor market: The US economy added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January, blowing economists’ expectations out of the water. “The labor market is extraordinarily strong,” he said. Core services inflation: Powell noted that he’s seeing disinflation in the goods sector and expects to soon see declining inflation in housing. Service-sector inflation, which is more sensitive to a strong labor market, is up 7.5% from the year prior through the end of 2022, and has not abated, he said. Tech layoffs, Big Oil and soft landings: What investors are watching▸ The labor market is strong, but tech layoffs keep coming.

☆ Child Care Hasn’t Recovered From Covid, Keeping Many Parents at Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Harriet Torry | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The high cost and limited availability of child care is keeping some parents out of the labor force when unemployment is at its lowest rate in more than half a century. There were about 58,000 fewer daycare workers in the U.S. last month compared with February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold, according to the Labor Department, even though the broader labor market has recovered all lost jobs.

☆ Why did we get a monster jobs report if the economy is slowing?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And yet, even though it seemed impossible, the labor market is somehow getting tighter, said Rucha Vankudre, senior economist at business analytics firm Lightcast. “I think pretty much all the labor economists in the country this morning are shocked,” Vankudre said Friday during a webinar after the jobs report was released. The January jobs report shouldn’t trigger a wholesale change of what Fed members are thinking or what they were planning on doing before this report, Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo, told CNN. Strong labor market in a slowing economy? January’s jobs report came with added complexity, because it included annual updates to populations estimates and revisions to employer survey data.

The stronger-than-expected hiring pushed the unemployment rate to 3.4%, the lowest since the spring of 1969. “It will give the Fed absolutely no reassurance that labor market imbalances – which have been adding to wage pressures - are easing," said Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings. "It will reinforce the message that the Fed still has quite a lot of work to do to tame core inflation." U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh said he thought Friday's report showed signs of an economy and labor market steadily returning to normal. Powell pointed out that the years just before the COVID-19 health crisis included simultaneously low unemployment, low inflation, and sustainably modest wage growth, proof that a best-case set of conditions was achievable.

☆ Is the Fed ignoring long Covid in its inflation fight?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But it’s premature to say that Covid is no longer an economic issue when long Covid has such a significant effect on America’s workforce, economists and health care officials say. Long Covid, which stems from a Covid-19 infection, is considered a chronic illness that is sometimes debilitating. As many as 30% of Americans, about 23 million people, develop long Covid after a Covid infection, said the US Department of Health and Human Services in November. “Long Covid has harmed the workforce,” said the report, compiled by the New York State Insurance Fund. Caregiving for those suffering from Covid or long Covid is also affecting the labor imbalance, said Giacomo Santangelo, an economics professor at Fordham University.

Last month, he called on companies to hike pay at a level above inflation, with some already heeding the call. Last month, Japan recorded its biggest drop in earnings, once inflation is taken into account, in nearly a decade. A changing job marketExperts say Japan’s wages have also suffered because it lags in another metric: its productivity rate. Hideya Tokiyoshi, a teacher in Japan, told CNN he had barely seen his salary go up over the last 30 years. “If some of the biggest companies in Japan raise wages, many other firms will follow,” if only to stay competitive, said Yamaguchi.

☆ Payrolls increased by 517,000 in January, crushing estimates, as unemployment rate hit 53-year low
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% vs. the estimate for 3.6%. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 for January, above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000 and December's gain of 260,000. However, Chairman Jerome Powell, in his post-meeting news conference, noted the labor market "remains extremely tight" and is still "out of balance." "Today's report is an echo of 2022's surprisingly resilient job market, beating back recession fears," said Daniel Zhao, lead economist for job review site Glassdoor. "The Fed has a New Year's resolution to cool down the labor market, and so far, the labor market is pushing back."

☆ Strong U.S. job growth expected in January; wages seen cooling
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Wage growth is decelerating less than inflation," said Kate Bahn, chief economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth in Washington. It will also incorporate new population estimates in the household survey, from which the unemployment rate is derived. As such January's unemployment rate will not be directly comparable to December. REVISIONS IN FOCUSThe revisions will attract attention after researchers at the Philadelphia Fed published a paper in December that suggested employment growth in the second quarter was overstated by a million jobs. Economists will be closely watching the labor force for signs whether the current pace of job growth will persist.

☆ Ron Insana says even with the big jobs report, there are signs of disinflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Ron Insana | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following the announcement that the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point, at the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2022. Wage inflation, of course. Economists can complain about wage inflation all they want, but a 4.4% annual gain, now decelerating, is not the bogeyman they claim it to be. The Fed's reliance on the so-called "Phillips curve," which links low unemployment to rising inflation, is an archaic construct. Lower unemployment today is hardly leading to runaway wage inflation.

☆ The top 10 best U.S. cities for STEM careers, according to new research
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Despite recent mass tech layoffs , STEM careers have remained in high demand — and some cities are better than others for professionals in the field. Seattle, WATotal Score: 70.82Professional opportunities ranking: 1Quality of life ranking: 222. Austin, TXTotal Score: 67.33Professional opportunities ranking: 2Quality of life ranking: 103. Sacramento, CATotal Score: 60.16Professional opportunities ranking: 38Quality of life ranking: 32According to Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, most of these cities have consistently remained the best places for STEM careers for almost a decade. The recent layoffs have only affected a small part of the total labor force and the STEM field encompasses more areas than just tech.

☆ Boom in January jobs shows employers fear worker shortage more than recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

January's super strong jobs report underscores that employers are more worried about not having enough workers than they are about a slowing economy. But Zandi notes that of all the components of the jobs report, the one that matters most to the Fed is average hourly wages, and they have been coming down. It's just really strong," said Tom Simons, money market economist at Jefferies. The strong report means interest rates will continue to rise, and the Federal Reserve will raise benchmark overnight lending rates by another quarter point in March. ISM Services data Friday reinforced some of the strength in the jobs report.

☆ What to look for in Friday’s jobs report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Minneapolis CNN —A week that has been chock-full of economic data will be capped off Friday with the first US jobs report of 2023. Beyond the key headline indicators of payroll gains, unemployment and average hourly earnings, here are some other areas of the jobs report that Pollak and other economists will scrutinize when the January jobs report is released Friday morning. Average weekly hoursIn December, the average working week for employees — including part-time workers — was 34.3 hours, according to BLS data. Labor force participationThe imbalance of labor demand and worker supply has been consistently highlighted by the Fed as a potential sticking point in its efforts to lower inflation. The world has changed pretty dramatically over the last two to three years, and it’s going to be difficult to show people that the skills they possess are needed right now.”The government’s monthly jobs report is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m.

☆ Mexico’s Industrial Hubs Grow as Part of Trade Shift Toward Nearshoring
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Anthony Harrup | Juan Montes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Executives cited the labor force as a factor in their decision to open or expand manufacturing plants in Mexico. MEXICO CITY—Companies from around the world are moving production and equipment to Mexico as they seek a manufacturing hub closer to the U.S., part of a broader shift in global trade. Some companies are relocating from Asia, while others are investing millions of dollars to raise output of goods that are exported tariff-free to the U.S.

China's population is shrinking. This shocking statistic is only the start of China's population decline. This year India is set to surpass China's population, and in a few years it will surpass China's working-age population — people 20 to 69. Because of its manufacturing prowess and importance to supply chains, China's shrinking working-age population has enormous, direct effects on the global economy. Among today's largest economies, only the US has a projection of positive population growth, though at very low levels.

☆ Long Covid has an ‘underappreciated’ role in labor shortage, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Long Covid is keeping people out of work and may reduce on-the-job productivity for others, contributing to a labor shortage and weighing on the U.S. economy at large, according to a new study. Long Covid — also known as long-haul Covid, post-Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome — is a chronic illness that results from a Covid-19 infection. Up to 30% of Americans develop long Covid after a Covid infection, affecting as many as 23 million Americans, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in November. About 18% of people with long Covid hadn't returned to work for more than a year after contracting Covid, according to a recent study by the New York State Insurance Fund, the state's largest workers' compensation insurer. The labor force participation rate was 62.3% in December, which has shown "little net change" since early 2022 and remains a percentage point below its pre-pandemic level, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics most recent jobs report.

The issue brief stated that a "10% increase in median childcare prices was associated with 1 percentage-point lower county-level maternal employment rates." "High childcare prices and minimal public childcare investments are especially detrimental to employment among mothers with lower wages, as childcare affordability is out of reach," the researchers wrote. Childcare costs have outpaced inflation during the pandemic, according to one recent report, and the lion's share of childcare duties have fallen on women during the pandemic, causing them to leave the workforce en masse. Childcare workers made a mean hourly wage of $13.31 as of 2021, with the bottom 10% earning about $9 an hour. That's as childcare workers are more than twice as likely to live below the poverty line as those in other industries.

☆ The pandemic created an American entrepreneurship boom — and it looks like it's here to stay
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The pandemic may have given a "lasting, positive shock to American entrepreneurship." Americans filed 5.1 million new business applications in 2022, according to US Census Bureau data, equating to roughly 14,000 new business applications filed every day last year. It marked the second-highest year on record — down slightly from 5.4 million in 2021 — and remained well above the 3.5 million filed in 2019. This also marked the second-highest year on record and exceeded the 1.3 million filed in 2019. Experts have pointed to several explanations for the spike in new business applications in recent years.

☆ It's great timing for the US's first immigration boost in years — but experts say Biden needs to reverse more Trump-era policies for the economy to feel the maximum effect
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

While net international migration in 2022 wasn't as high as in 2016 — the high point for immigration between 2010 to 2022 — it's still the highest since 2017. Additionally, the authors note that 2022 is the "first time net international migration increased since 2016." The US would have had about two million more immigrants if not for those policies, Insider estimated based on the average growth rate from 2011 to 2016 for net international migration. According to Peri, "the number of immigrants who can come in legally is constrained" by laws and procedures that haven't really changed. Since entering office, President Joe Biden has reversed a number of Trump's restrictive immigration policies, although a number of them are still in place.

☆ How to find a job in the one tech market that is not seeing layoffs: Cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kaitlin Balasaygun | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn | Istock | Getty ImagesStrong demand for cybersecurity workers is continuing even as big technology companies lay off thousands of employees. But with a supply-demand ratio currently at 68 workers per 100 job openings, the nearly 530,000 more cybersecurity workers need in the U.S. went up year over year. The total number of employed cybersecurity workers was estimated at 1.1 million, steady year over year. Lightcast says that public sector job demand trend isn't a one-year phenomenon, growing by 58% over the past three years in all. Related to that, the Washington, D.C. metro area accounted for 19% of all public sector domestic cybersecurity job listings.

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