Image 01 Image 03

Economy Tag

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that women only gave birth to 3.79 million babies in 2018, which is a dip of 2%. We have not seen that low of a birth rate since the 1980s. The fertility rate, which they measure by "the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44," went down to 59%. That is the lowest percentage ever since the federal government began to keep track of those births.

Holy cow, what a drop off. The February jobs report shows the economy only added 20,000 jobs last month. Experts predicted 180,000 jobs. However, the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%.

Unions and Democrat politicians asked Amazon to come back to Long Island City, Queens, in an open letter in The New York Times. They wrote:
New Yorkers do not want to give up on the 25,000 permanent jobs, 11,000 union construction and maintenance jobs, and $28 billion in new tax revenues that Amazon was prepared to bring to our state. A clear majority of New Yorkers support this project and were disappointed by your decision not to proceed. We understand that becoming home to the world’s industry leader in e-commerce, logistics and web services would be a tremendous boost for our state’s technology industry, which is our fastest growing generator of new jobs. As representatives of a wide range of government, business, labor and community interests, we urge you to reconsider, so that we can move forward together.

The gross domestic product (GDP) in the last quarter of 2018 grew 2.6%, which exceeded expectations. This is the first time since President George W. Bush that we had four straight quarters with GDP growth 2% and up. Experts thought the GDP, "a broad measure of the goods and services produced across the U.S.," would land at 2.2%.

The economy added 304,000 jobs in January, the 100th month in a row with growth. Experts predicted only 107,000 jobs in January. Labor force participation (LFP) is the highest it's been since 2014 at 63.2%. Average hourly wages only grew by 0.1%, but overall it's up 3.2% from a year ago. The unemployment went up slightly from 3.9% to 4%.

Economists expected 198,000 in November, but the economy only added 155,000. While expectations fell short, there's some positivity within the report and stocks traded higher on Friday morning. Experts told The Wall Street Journal that fears of a recession may have been overblown:
Friday's jobs report shows that the market's volatility and lingering uncertainty over the U.S. and China's trade relationship hasn't stopped businesses from hiring workers, said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist and managing director at MUFG, in an email.

Stephen Gutowski at The Washington Free Beacon reported that since siding with those who support gun control, business has gone down at Dick's Sporting Goods and the company may have to close Field & Stream:
Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick's, said during the event that the sporting goods chain's recent 3.9 percent drop in same-store sales was the result of a mix of factors beyond their control as well as some he called "self-imposed." Specifically, he said, "the decisions we made on firearms" negatively affected their bottom line but the drop in sales was something they expected. They did not, however, regret their decision to change a number of their gun-sales policies and back new gun-control legislation.

Bloomberg has reported that more senior citizens have entered the fast-food market as those restaurant chains have actively aimed to recruit this age demographic. Yes, the job market is tight, but the senior citizens have what teenagers lack: social skills and punctuality.