I wanted to be happy about the DOW closing above 17,000 and the June economic news seemingly positive with 288,000 jobs added (non-farm payrolls) and the number of unemployed fell by 325,000 - higher paying jobs and business service jobs increased by 67,000. All good news. Then, I looked more closely The workforce participation rate fell to 62.8 percent - A 30 YEAR LOW! While 2.15 million people gained employment but 2.35 million dropped out of the workforce. Wages over the last 12 months grew only 2 percent while prices for food, fuel, education and clothing went up by nearly twice that much (not good news for projected consumer spending). Perhaps the most ominous news is that full-time jobs fell by 523,000 while part-time jobs grew by 799,000. Many attribute this to Obamacare as businesses plan to avoid the costs of health insurance kicking in January 2015. The House of Representatives have passed several bills that could help the economy (including lowering the corporate tax rate and providing for incentive to bring business back to this country from overseas). Sadly, these bills still sit in the Senate with no prospect of action in the near future.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:14:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015