Good economic news, again

Stylerod · 03-09-2007, 11:24 AM

Unemployment is down again to 4.5 and wages increased.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent in February even as big losses of construction and factory jobs restrained overall payroll growth. Wages grew briskly.

The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, offered a somewhat mixed picture of the employment climate.

The slight decline in the politically prominent jobless rate, from 4.6 percent in January, came as hundreds of thousand of people left the work force for various reasons.

Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month.

A cold winter kept us from doing even better. A little more global warming may have been useful here (I keed! I keed!)

Trade deficit is down!

The US trade deficit narrowed 3.8 percent in January to 59.1 billion dollars thanks to record-breaking export growth, the Commerce Department said Friday.

It was a bigger drop than expected on Wall Street, where analysts saw a deficit of 60.0 billion dollars, and marked the steepest change in the trade figure since October.

An improving trade picture could be good for first-quarter US economic growth, as a higher deficit subtracts from gross domestic product.

Total imports fell 0.5 percent to 185.8 billion dollars last month while exports jumped 1.1 percent to a new record of 126.7 billion.

The economy continues to be extremely strong and really shows no sign of weakening any time soon.

Pro Street · 03-09-2007, 11:30 AM

I wouldnt call it "extremely strong" and neither would any economist, but its not hurting.

the trade defect falling is good, although 3.9% of 60 billion is only about 2-something billion.... there is a lot of room to go there.

oh, the housing market is falling apart,foreclosures are way up as well as mortgage interest rates.

ballz2wallz · 03-09-2007, 02:59 PM

Don't forget this:

Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets - Yahoo! News

motivez · 03-09-2007, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Don't forget this:

Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets - Yahoo! News

boosted mostly by gains on stocks. . .

So isn't that essentially saying the wealthy got more wealthy? Most people in this country don't benefit tremendously from gains in the stock market (on capital gains and such) as far as I'm aware.

Pro Street · 03-09-2007, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Don't forget this:

Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets - Yahoo! News

now compare that to personal debt... and even in that article the warning signs of a massive housing downturn is foreshadowed.

ballz2wallz · 03-09-2007, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

boosted mostly by gains on stocks. . .

So isn't that essentially saying the wealthy got more wealthy? Most people in this country don't benefit tremendously from gains in the stock market (on capital gains and such) as far as I'm aware.

Not only the wealthy have stocks

For example, I'm not wealthy by any means, but I own some.

motivez · 03-09-2007, 03:20 PM

I own some stocks as well, but I don't earn enough in capital gains from them that it changes my net financial position in the world.. and I suspect that's true for most Americans.

It's nice to see wages finally increasing though as they've lagged for quite some time now.

RMNIXON · 03-09-2007, 04:05 PM

My Way News - Unemployment Rate Dips to 4.5 Percent

"On another encouraging note, the economy ended up adding 55,000 more jobs in December and January combined than the government estimated a month ago.

Workers' wages grew briskly, another sign that the job market is in fundamentally good shape, analysts said.

Average hourly earnings jumped to $17.16 in February, from $16.49 a year earlier. That represented a solid 4.1 percent increase over the last 12 months.

"Because unemployment is low, workers have more negotiating power and are getting higher wages," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Increasing it is becoming a worker's market, particularly for highly skilled and educated workers."
Strong wage growth is good for workers and supports consumer spending, a key ingredient to the country's economic health. But a rapid pickup - if sustained and not blunted by other economic forces - can raise fears about inflation. Spiraling inflation would whittle away any wage gains, hurting workers' wallets. It isn't good for the overall economy, either."

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That is how you get "real" wages up. Skills and a tight labor market. Not through "solidarity" with Union protected lazy and incompetent workers who drag the economy down with a lack of productivity and artificially inflated wages. That is why the private sector Union share has shrunk in such good economic times and the government sector is the only place of growth!