Inflation slowed more sharply than expected in November in an encouraging sign, but the Federal Reserve plowed ahead yesterday with another half-point increase in interest rates, bringing them to their highest point since the 2008 recession. Inflation eased somewhat through the month of November with annualized prices increasing 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent last…
Read More »The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last week that the real average hourly earning for all employees decreased 0.1 percent from September to October, seasonally adjusted. The result stems from an increase of 0.4 percent in average hourly earning combined with an increase of 0.4 percent in the CPI combined with no change…
Read More »The Labor Department reported earlier this week that employers added 261,000 jobs in October while the unemployment rate increased to 3.7% for the month. At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of unemployed persons rose by 360,000 to 6.1 million! And yesterday the BLS released inflation numbers for…
Read More »One unanticipated repercussion of the ongoing 40-year high level of inflation is the impact it is having on automatic minimum wage rates in a number of states. Most recently, three states announced that new minimum wage rates for 2023 will be higher than they had previously anticipated. With minimum wage rates tied to the Consumer…
Read More »The curse of inflation continues to haunt the US economy with the Consumer Price Index showing no change month to month, but up 8.5% in July over July 2021. Overall prices were flat through July, with falling gasoline prices skewing the picture. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy prices, climbed 5.9% annually and…
Read More »Inflation continues to eat into the US economy and more and more impact on hourly earnings. According to data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased by 1% from May to June of this year. The decrease results from the combination of a 0.1 percent…
Read More »The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported this week that real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.6 percent from April to May. The decrease stems from an increase of 0.4 percent in average hourly earnings combined with an increase of 1.0 percent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Real average hourly earnings…
Read More »As many states updated and increased their minimum wages over the past several years, a goodly number of them chose to tether future increases to the Consumer Price Index. California was one of those states with state law providing that should inflation increase by more than 7% over the prior fiscal year, then all employers…
Read More »As inflation continues to reach highs it hasn’t hit in over 40 years – the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is at 8.5% annualized – the outlook for ending the labor shortage anytime soon doesn’t look any better. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6% at the end of March, while net restaurant employment rose by 61,000…
Read More »The United States Department of Labor reported yesterday that consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in February and 7.9 percent over the last 12 months. The consumer price index (CPI), the key gauge of inflation, showed price growth speeding up on both a monthly and annual basis. The all-item index rising almost 8% annually is the…
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