Private Investment is Engine of Private Sector Job Growth
Real GDP grew at 1.8% annual rate in 1st quarter, according to advance estimate
Advance Estimate Shows GDP Grew at a Real, Annualized Rate of 1.8% in the 1st Quarter The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate of growth in the inflation-adjusted (“real”) gross domestic product (GDP) for the 1st quarter of 2011 (available here). According to the ad...
Fed maintains 0.0%-0.25% target and current policy plans
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policymaking committee (the Federal Open Market Committee – FOMC) decided today to keep its target overnight interest rate (the “federal funds rate”) in a target range of 0.0% to 0.25%. The Fed noted the recent run-up in commodity prices and inflation, and stated that...
Weekly Economic Update: April 18-22, 2011
Overview: Housing starts increased 7.2% in April as building permits rose 11.2% and existing home sales increased 3.7%. Initial jobless claims fell 13,000 to a level of 403,000 for the week ended 4/16.
Weekly Economic Update: April 11-15, 2011
Overview: The U.S. trade deficit narrowed $1.2 billion to $45.8 billion in February. Retail sales were up 0.4% in March. The topline CPI rose 0.5% in March; the core CPI edged up 0.1%. The topline PPI increased 0.7%; the core PPI rose 0.3%. Industrial production increased 0.8% in March. The U....
Weekly Economic Update: April 4-8, 2011
Overview: The ISM services index fell 2.4 points to 57.3 in March. Consumer credit increased $7.6 billion to $2.42 trillion in February. Initial jobless claims fell 10,000 to a level of 382,000 for the week ended 4/2.
Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Small and Uncertain Benefits at Large Economic Costs
EPA regulation is not the way to manage global greenhouse gases for many reasons: The American people have not given their endorsement; The EPA is a national agency and this is a global undertaking; The costs are enormous, have not been delimited, nor matched to benefits; The EPA mission would be to...
Weekly Economic Update: March 28- April 1
Overview: The economy added 216,000 payroll jobs in March as the unemployment rate edged down to 8.8%. Personal income increased 0.3% in February as spending rose 0.7%. The ISM index declined 0.2 points to 61.2 in March. Pending home sales rose 2.1% in February as construction spending declined ...
March 2011 Employment and Unemployment
March Employment and Unemployment: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report today on employment and unemployment for March (pdf summary available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). Highlights of the report:
Highway Robbery: The Davis-Bacon Act Increases Costs, Decreases Employment
The Davis-Bacon Act requires that all federally-funded projects worth more than $2,000 must pay workers the “prevailing wage,” which is typically set equal to the local wage paid to more skilled union workers.
