Unemployment Rate Without Government Cuts: 7.1%
One reason the jobless rate may have remained persistently high: The sharp cuts in state and local government spending in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and the layoffs those cuts wrought.
Number of the Week: Legalize Pot to Make Roads Safer
Economists found that the 13 states that passed medical marijuana laws from 1990 through 2009 saw traffic fatalities fall by 8.7%.
Did Economy Really Create 500,000 Jobs?
According to one little-followed measure, the economy created nearly 500,000 jobs last month -- about twice as many as the government’s official figure of 243,000.
Food Aid to Developing Nations May Increase Armed Conflict
Economists found that an increase in food aid raises the incidence, onset and duration of armed civil conflict in a recipient country.
Looking for Bias at Ratings Firms
Plenty of folks “know” that ratings companies are rife with conflicts – namely that they are paid by the companies they judge – and that this leads to grade inflation. Actually showing this to be the case, though, is difficult.
Vital Signs: Bumper Crop, EU Troubles Pressure Cocoa
Cocoa prices aren’t looking so rich anymore.
Number of the Week: Finance’s Share of Economy Continues to Grow
Given everything that’s happened, surely the financial sector’s role in the economy is smaller now than it was before the recession hit, right? Wrong.
Vital Signs: Falling Jobless Claims
Initial jobless claims slipped to a nine-month low of 381,000 in the week ended Dec. 3 from 404,000 the previous week.
Vital Signs: Student, Car Loans Lead Rise in Borrowing
U.S. consumers increased their borrowing in October.
Vital Signs: Demand for Temp Help Cools
An index of temporary and contract employment, based on a survey of staffing firms, was 1.1% below its year-earlier level for the week ended Nov. 27.
Vital Signs: Slowing Service-Sector Growth
The Institute for Supply Management’s Nonmanufacturing Index -- based mostly on service businesses -- eased to 52 in November from 52.9 in October.
Vital Signs: North Dakota on Track to Be No. 2 Oil State
North Dakota produced 464,129 barrels a day in September, up from 113,692 five years earlier.
