After the final jobs report for 2019 showed wage growth missed expectations, the Dow closed below 29,000 after reaching the milestone for the first time in intraday trading.
But Grover Norquist, conservative activist and president of the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, said the jobs report was “good on all counts”
“I particularly like the U6, which is the unemployment number that includes discouraged workers,” he told Cheddar. Discouraged workers are those individuals who stop looking for jobs and no longer count toward general unemployment numbers.
“Unemployment is at a historic 50-year low, but discouraged workers is also at an all-time low,” he said. The discouraged and underemployed workers rate fell to 6.7 percent. He noted that the number is the lowest since the government began being measured in 1994.
In today’s report, the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls increased by only 145,000 versus the 160,000 that had been expected as the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent.
Today’s report also marked a slow rise in average hourly earnings, which rose by 2.9 percent, below the 3.1 percent projection.
Of those employed, women held more U.S. jobs than men for the first time in a decade. The last time women overtook men in payrolls was between January 2009 and April 2010, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Online retailer eBay Inc. will cut about 1,000 jobs, or an estimated 9% of its full-time workforce. The announcement follows similar moves by other tech companies that ramped up hiring during the pandemic while people spent more time and money online.
Tony Drake, CFP at Drake and Associates, LLC shares thoughts on whether the record gains in technology will broaden to other sectors, the risks of the Fed keeping interest rates higher for too long, and the health of the U.S. consumer.
The Federal Trade Commission ruled that Intuit engaged in deceptive practices by running ads claiming consumers could file their taxes for free using TurboTax — when many taxpayers did not qualify for such free offerings.
WWE’s weekly television show, “Raw,” will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion. WWE, which is part of TKO Group Holdings Inc., said Tuesday that “Raw” will air on Netflix starting in January 2025.
Propublica national reporter Peter Elkind shares details on his investigation into how scammers stole over $1 billion using Walmart's gift cards and financial services, and how consumers can protect themselves.
Ed Siddell, CEO and Chief Investment Advisor at EGIS financial explains why election years tend to cause bull markets, the latest inflation data, and why he’s concerned about the ‘debt bubble.’
