Business Trends

by Raymond J. Keating- The key data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report on personal income is real per capita disposable income, which basically stalled at the end of 2019. Real per capita disposable personal income is personal income less personal current taxes, and adjusted for population and inflation. This is the income […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Census Bureau’s durable goods report for December showed that topline durable goods new orders grew by 2.4 percent in December, after a decline of 3.1 percent in November and barely inching ahead by 0.2 percent in October. Meanwhile, shipments declined in each of the last three months of 2019. […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2019: Iowa ranked 42nd among the 50 states. SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including a wide array of tax, regulatory and government spending and performance measurements. Small Business Tax Index 2019: Iowa ranked 46th among […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ new report on state employment shows that job growth in the states cooled at the close of 2019. Let’s look at three key takeaways from this report. First, compared to the previous month, only three states experienced employment growth in December – Texas, Washington and […]

The latest outlook shows global GDP rebounding, and U.S. GDP slowing by Raymond J. Keating- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just released the latest update to its World Economic Outlook. As usual with the IMF, there are issues that raise questions, but one issue actually is substantive and striking, and that pertains to projections regarding […]

The latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the long, breathtaking decline in labor union membership continued in 2019. The number of labor union members registered 14.57 million in 2019. That was down from 14.74 million in 2018. As a percent of employed, the 2019 level came in at 10.3 percent, […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Census Bureau’s report on new residential housing construction for December 2019 showed a solid year for housing. In particular, these measures of housing construction – starts and permits – showed strong growth starting mid-2019. Housing starts for December 2019 (seasonally adjusted annual rate) grew dramatically, up by 16.9 percent […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail and food services sales for December 2019 grew by 0.3 percent compared to a month earlier. That was in line with expectations. Looking at further breakdowns, when excluding motor vehicle and parts – which declined by 1.3 percent in December – sales increased by […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. economy grew at a pretty solid pace from the third quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2019, in particular, with real GDP growth topping 3 percent in four of those seven quarters, with another quarter nearly hitting the three percent mark. But growth slowed notably in the […]

by Raymond J. Keating- United Van Lines released in National Moving Study earlier this month. It tracks where people moved among the states in 2019. And it’s not surprising to take note that net moves were, in part, affected by the costs imposed by government. The study tracks United Van Lines’ customer moves and state-to-state […]