Biden labor agenda could shift momentum back to unions, low-wage workers

Dec 15, 2020
The president-elect is expected to roll back Trump administration rulings.
President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks about the U.S. economy during a press briefing at The Queen theater on Nov. 16, 2020 in Wilmington, Del.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Markets wait for latest inflation number

Feb 13, 2018
The Labor Department will be out tomorrow with one measure of inflation: the consumer price index. You can bet a lot of people are going be paying special attention to that number, because investors have made it clear they’re worried about rising prices. Meanwhile, although it turns out we can measure inflation, it is really […]

Hey, wait. My hamburger just got more expensive.

Feb 9, 2018
The plunge in the stock market this week has been widely ascribed to fears that inflation is coming. But for large parts of the American economy — namely, business — inflation is already here. From car companies to restaurant groups, American companies are paying higher prices for raw materials and ingredients. The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index […]

The pace of job creation has been slowing

Feb 2, 2018
The pace of job creation has declined every year since a post-recession peak of 250,000 per month in 2014. Last year, job creation was down to about 170,000 per month. And it could slow even more over the next couple of years. That’s because with unemployment so low, employers are having a harder time finding […]

With low unemployment, a look at who is still standing outside the labor pool

Jan 5, 2018
The December jobs report, in the grand sweep of things — not month to month, but year to year and even decade to decade — shows the economy’s come a long way. Unemployment, at 4.1 percent, is now several points lower than it was before the Great Recession hit. We’ve had more than seven years […]
From left, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) talk with reporters following the weekly Senate Republican Policy Committee luncheon in the U.S. Capitol Nov. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Worker productivity up again

Feb 2, 2012
Productivity is up amongst American workers, but how much longer can we expect to squeeze blood from that stone?

Employment report: The Christmas bump

Jan 6, 2012
Temporary holiday hires might be padding December’s big jobs numbers.

MID-DAY UPDATE: Sanofi-Aventis buys Genzyme, inflation is up for January

Feb 16, 2011
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis announced this morning that it will buy American biotech firm Genzyme -- bringing to end over six...