Tag Archives: Unemployment

The Department of Labor reported 192,000 new jobs in March, down slightly from February’s revised growth of 197,000 (from 175,000 originally reported). January’s employment growth was also revised, receiving a bump up to 144,000 from 129,000 reported last month. Despite last month’s apparent strength, the overall unemployment rate stubbornly stayed at 6.7 percent.

The Conference Board reported its Leading Economic Index (LEI) increased 0.5 percent last month to 99.8, inclining steeper after a 0.1 percent gain in January. “The U.S. LEI increased sharply in February, suggesting that any weather-related volatility will be short lived and the economy should continue to improve into the second half of the year,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, economist at the Conference Board.

According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, beating expectations after two weak months but still failing to impress. While more promising than December and January—which showed upwardly revised payroll growth of 84,000 and 129,000, respectively—February’s numbers still fell well short of 2013’s average monthly growth of 194,000.

Out of more than 900 respondents to Fiserv’s 2014 Boardroom Series Outlook Survey, 50 percent expressed “somewhat” or “very optimistic” expectations for economic growth this year, with another 42 percent expecting the year to follow more or less the same track as 2013. A combined 9 percent said they are “somewhat” or “very pessimistic.”

The nation's second largest lender is reportedly cutting 450 jobs in its West Coast offices, according to Bloomberg. ""These notifications have been ongoing and reflect our previously announced efforts to reduce our size, resolve legacy issues and simplify our company,"" said Dan Frahm, a spokesman for Bank of America. The lender is still hiring in non-mortgage areas, and some employees will find jobs in other parts of the firm, he said.

According to the government's latest data, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 113,000 last month, adding more bleak numbers to December's barely revised growth of 75,000. The unemployment rate edged down slightly to 6.6 percent. Since October, the jobless rate has fallen more than half a percentage point, largely thanks to declines in the number of people counted as being part of the labor force. There's a little bit of good news, though.

Instead of bringing America together and setting us forth on the path towards economic growth and prosperity, what President Obama did in his State of the Union address was offer of the same misguided, go-it-alone ideas we've heard before, as opposed to real job creation and economic growth. Rather than go through the same divisive rhetoric and "stale political arguments" Americans have grown tired of, let's agree to put politics aside and do what's best for everyone, not just the chosen few.

In its first meeting this year, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to once again cut back on the Fed's bond-buying program.

In his speech Tuesday night, the president only directly mentioned housing twice: first to describe the market as "rebounding" and again to demand from Congress "legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again." While the second might be seen as a nod toward legislative movements to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the topic wasn't explored any further. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wage stagnation.

In its latest forecast, analytics firm Veros Real Estate Solutions predicts home prices will rise on average 5.1 percent for the nation's top 100 metro areas. The company's previous 2014 projections, released last quarter, called for 4.8 percent growth. "The future HPI [Home Price Index] forecast continues to show good appreciation, but the markets appear to be topping out for now," said Eric Fox, Veros' VP of statistical and economic modeling and author of the company's VeroFORECAST.