USA Today (May 28)
“Despite what politicians say,” entrepreneurs don’t create many jobs. “Successful entrepreneurs almost always create real value in the economy and grow the economic pie for all of us,” but they “do not always create enormous numbers of jobs, particularly for the middle class.” In fact, “the creative destruction that accompanies entrepreneurship today often destroys middle-class jobs.”
Tags: Creative destruction, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Jobs, Middle class, Politicians, Value
Financial Times (May 2)
“First money and low-cost production jumped across borders, now it is creativity and services.” Knowledge intensive flows “are now worth a heady $12.6tn; to set this in context, this is half of all cross-border flows, and almost four-fifths the size of the US economy.” This new “globalisation does not just threaten western manufacturing jobs, but many service jobs too.”
Tags: Borders, Creativity, Globalisation, Jobs, Knowledge, Low-cost, Manufacturing, Money, Production, Service, Services, U.S.
Los Angeles Times (May 1)
California “continues to attract more manufacturers and create more jobs than almost any other. The numbers don’t lie.” Toyota and Occidental Petroleum both announced plans to move their headquarters from California to Texas. Nevertheless, California’s business environment remains vibrant given the state’s unique “ability to incubate new companies and tech innovators, putting its businesses in the vanguard of new industries.”
Tags: Business, California, Environment, Innovators, Jobs, Manufacturers, Occidental Petroleum, Texas, Toyota, Vanguard
Wall Street Journal (March 2)
“The fundamental economic issue facing America” is not headline-grabbing income inequality, but rather “jobs—their scarcity and the quality of those that people manage to find.” When the marginally employed are included, the real unemployment rate is closer to 13% and part-time jobs now account for 18% of the workforce. “Job losses in the low-wage and minimum-wage category is the critical issue of our day: Too many of the poor are not working full time or at all.”
Tags: Full-time, Income inequality, Job losses, Jobs, Minimum wage, Poor, Quality, Scarcity, U.S., Unemployment, Wages, Work, Workforce
New York Times (February 5, 2014)
Recent estimates credit the Affordable Care Act with unchaining 2.5 million people from their jobs over the ensuing decade. “The new law will free people, young and old, to pursue careers or retirement without having to worry about health coverage. Workers can seek positions they are most qualified for and will no longer need to feel locked into a job they don’t like because they need insurance for themselves or their families.”
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Careers, Coverage, Families, Health, Insurance, Jobs, Positions, Qualified, Retirement, Workers
Los Angeles Times (December 8, 2013)
“Between 2000 and 2010, as newspapers lost readers of their print editions, some 120 paper mills were closed in the United States and Canada, with a loss of 240,000 jobs, or about a third of the paper industry’s workforce.” But paper still has a future. In fact, paper has about 20,000 uses, including cardboard and bags, according to a British association of paper historians. We won’t become a paperless society overnight.
Tags: Canada, Cardboard, Historians, Jobs, Newspapers, Paper mills, Paperless society, Print editions, Readers, U.S., Workforce
Cover (November 5)
“Over two-fifths (44%) of Brits say they are currently undergoing a period of stress, according to new research.” Money and job worries were the two biggest factors behind the UKs high stress levels. “Stress is most prevalent amongst 45-54 year olds with half (50%) saying they’re stressed, and least prevalent amongst the 55 and overs— with only 38% stating they are currently stressed.”
Los Angeles Times (October 28)
“Policymakers are clear about their bond-buying goal, but the Street isn’t listening.” Current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke stated publicly that quantitative easing would continue until unemployment falls to 6.5%. “If we generate 200,000 new jobs every month, tapering starts in November 2016. If we see an average of only 148,000 new jobs each month, we won’t ever see Fed tapering…. Tapering is still a long way off.”
Tags: Bernanke, Bond-buying, Fed, Jobs, Policymakers, Quantitative easing, Tapering, Unemployment, Wall Street
New York Times (September 1)
“In the decade from 2002 to 2012, wages have stagnated or declined for the entire bottom 70 percent of the wage ladder.” Last Thursday “thousands of fast-food workers in 60 cities walked off their jobs, the latest in an escalating series of walkouts by low-wage workers demanding higher pay and the right to organize without retaliation.” The workers are seeking $15 an hour, up from their present $9. In demanding more reasonable wages, “the fast-food strikers have it right.”“In the decade from 2002 to 2012, wages have stagnated or declined for the entire bottom 70 percent of the wage ladder.” Last Thursday “thousands of fast-food workers in 60 cities walked off their jobs, the latest in an escalating series of walkouts by low-wage workers demanding higher pay and the right to organize without retaliation.” The workers are seeking $15 an hour, up from their present $9. In demanding more reasonable wages, “the fast-food strikers have it right.”
Wall Street Journal (March 8)
“McDonald’s lackluster February sales report is a fresh sign that the real economy — where people eat fast food and earn an average of just under $24 an hour — is still sluggish, despite today’s upbeat jobs report and the soaring Dow.”
Tags: Dow, Economy, Jobs, McDonald's, Sales
