According to new employment data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the leisure and hospitality industry boosted economy-wide employment gains by adding 74,000 jobs in the month of September. Specifically, food service and drinking places gained 29,000 new staff, helping to drop the sector unemployment rate by 1.4 points to 7.7…
Read More »Inflation concerns are back in a real way as consumer prices rose 0.9 percent for the month of June according to data released this week by the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to an annualized rate of 5.4 percent, and for the month, almost doubled the projected…
Read More »Business confidence remains high through June according to the latest survey from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released earlier this month. For the 16th consecutive month, independent businesses have been optimistic in their outlook on the American economy. In fact, the June report shows the 2nd highest level of confidence since NFIB began…
Read More »Small business optimism has reached its highest level since 1983, when Ronald Reagan was President – almost 35 years ago. Earlier this week, the National Federation of Independent Business released its annual Small Business Optimism Survey showing that all but 2 of the 10 measurement components improved over the last month and that a full…
Read More »More good news from the Trump administration as the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has officially rescinded another Obama-era pro-union rule. The so-called “walk-around rule”, implemented back in 2013, effectively changed the OSHA allowing a third-party to “walk-around” with the inspector so long as he/she made a “positive contribution”! Previously, the standard required that…
Read More »As we enter the NFL Conference Championship weekend, we can fully understand “playing ‘til the whistle”, but relating that notion to the remnants of the Obama labor legacy is something different at this address. Notwithstanding, that seems to be precisely what the outgoing Department of Labor is doing as relates its permanently enjoined “Persuader Rule”…
Read More »No, I’m not singing the George Straight country song, rather I’m reporting that the federal court in Texas has permanently enjoined the Obama administration from implementing its new persuader rule. Recall that the so-called “persuader rule”, finalized by the Department of Labor back in March of this year, required law firms and any other consultants…
Read More »Although the broader business community is often portrayed as totally opposed to paid leave, a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) seems to indicate that small businesses are more open to and flexible about how they provide paid leave for their employees rather than opposed to the notion. The bigger issue…
Read More »We noted this week that the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) released their monthly index of small business indicators and the outlook through November was anything but encouraging. A full 60% of the index indicators dropped in November with a growing pessimism about future opportunities being the most significant contributing factor. The index came…
Read More »Enacting laws by Executive Order without Congressional approval seems to fall right in line with the lack of transparency and public scrutiny which the Obama administration is leaving as its legacy. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released a report recently in which they point to a dramatically rising tide of regulatory mandates, opinions…
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