Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Improving Job Market Driving Rebound in U.S. Growth
An improving job market and increasing factory production in March contributed to a jump in the U.S. index of leading indicators that signals the pace of economic growth is poised to snap back.
WSJ | Welders Make $150,000? Bring Back Shop Class
In American high schools, it is becoming increasingly hard to defend the vanishing of shop class from the curriculum. The trend began in the 1970s, when it became conventional wisdom that a four-year college degree was essential. As Forbes magazine reported in 2012, 90% of shop classes have been eliminated for the Los Angeles unified school district's 660,000 students. Yet a 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that 48% of all college graduates are working in jobs that don't require a four-year degree.
Blogs
WSJ | Two In Five Americans Now Earn Degrees After High School
The steady increase in the proportion of Americans earning degrees after high school graduation continued in 2012 for the fifth straight year, according to a new report.
WSJ | Labor Shortages Pop Up, but Wage Growth Still Lags
One interesting item in the Federal Reserve‘s beige book, released last week, was a report from the Minneapolis Fed that “in the energy-producing areas of North Dakota, the U.S. Postal Service and its union recently agreed to pay increases of up to 20% for rural carriers.” According to the Associated Press, the postal service is having a hard time, competing even with fast-food restaurants to find workers in western North Dakota, the site of the Bakken oil fields and a state with a 2.6% jobless rate.
WSJ | Long- and Short-Term Unemployment Have Similar Inflation Impact: Fed Paper
Long-term unemployment creates a drag on inflation similar to that created by short-term joblessness, according to a new paper by a Federal Reserve economist paper that casts doubt on the notion that researchers should study the two categories separately.
