Fact of the Week

by Raymond J. Keating- If you look at the media headlines, or even what’s emphasized by assorted economists, the July jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would be a middling affair. That is, the establishment survey pointed to a payrolls gain of 164,000. For good measure, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- After declines in the two previous months and in three of the last four months, durable goods orders moved up in June, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Durable goods orders increased by 2 percent in June, which came after drop-offs of 2.3 percent in many […]

by Raymond J. Keating- After a weak stretch from August 2018 to February 2019, retail sales in June 2019 continued a recent streak of growth. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. retail and food services sales grew by 0.4 in June. That followed growth of 0.4 percent in both April and May, and […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- Policy matters. If it didn’t, why would anyone care what went on in Washington D.C.? Of course, we’d all be much better off if policy didn’t matter much, but given the size and scope of government, that’s not the case. One of the most glaring examples of how policy matters […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Personal income growth, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, has stepped up over the past two months. Personal income grew by 0.5 percent in both April and May. That’s welcome after a stretch of underwhelming growth during the first three months of 2019. But as […]

by Raymond J. Keating- According to the latest report from U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, state personal income growth slowed in the first quarter of this year – from 4.4 percent (annualized) in the third quarter 2018, to 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and to 3.4 percent in first quarter 2019. The slowdown is […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- More data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reinforced the story that job growth was poor in May. Released early this month, the May BLS employment report pointed to a slowdown in job growth. (See SBE Council analysis of that May jobs report here.) The BLS’s release of its […]

by Raymond J. Keating- May retail and food services sales were up by 0.5 percent compared to April, with the April-vs.-March change revised from -0.2 percent to +0.3 percent, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. With the May data and revisions, the picture on retail sales through the first five months […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Industrial production (i.e., the real output of the manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities) took a welcome turn up in May, as did manufacturing output, which is the biggest chunk of industrial production. According to the Federal Reserve’s latest report, industrial production grew by 0.4 percent. That growth came after […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The May employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics points to a slowdown in job growth in May and over the past few months. First, the establishment survey showed that payrolls increased by only 75,000 in May. That also followed on payroll gains being revised downward for March (from […]