News
Market Watch | Average hourly earnings had biggest gain in over six years
Average hourly earnings jumped 0.5% in January to $24.75, the best showing since November 2008, according to Labor Department data released Friday. That took the year-on-year rise to 2.2%. Average weekly earnings also rose 0.5% during the month.
Market Watch | U.S. adds 257,000 jobs as wage gains appear
The U.S. added 257,000 new jobs in January to start off 2015 on a strong note, with evidence emerging that an influx of hiring over the past year may finally be pushing up wages after years of sluggish growth.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Wall Street Journal | Wobbly Policies Make For a Shaky Economy
We’ve long understood that poorly crafted laws and regulations can inhibit investment and economic growth, but at least investors and business managers can incorporate stable rules into their strategies. There’s another barrier to growth that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves: the uncertainty created by temporary policy making.
Market Watch | U.S. growth may sputter with productivity and population growth so low
It’s tough to read much in the latest quarterly swings in productivity data, but taken over the last four years, they paint a fairly dismal picture of the potential for growth from the U.S. economy.
Wall Street Journal | Oil Boom a ‘Game-Changer’ on Trade Deficit
Petroleum imports accounted for less than 20% of the nation’s trade deficit last year, down from more than 40% only five years earlier, according to figures for 2014 released Thursday.
Forbes | The Too-Much-Of-A-Good-Thing Economy
You know the old expression “be careful what you wish for — it may actually come true”? Well, somewhere there are a bunch of early-1980s economists who may now be regretting what they wished for 35 years ago.
