The economists, who were speaking at a panel called "Beyond GDP," made clear they think that's a huge mistake. GDP misses a lot. It doesn't, for instance, count the cooking, cleaning, and childrearing done in households. It doesn't count the value of people's health or a clean environment. It doesn't pay attention to the distribution of income or wealth. It doesn't pay attention to quality of life.
Washington’s influence industry, including former Trump officials and allies, has made big money helping companies get exemptions from tariffs — sometimes by undercutting small business owners like Mike Elrod.
Hiring slowed somewhat in December, as U.S. employers added 145,000 jobs. According to the Labor Department, that's down slightly from the three previous months, when employers added an average of 200,000 jobs. But the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%, matching its lowest level in 50 years.
For all of 2019, the economy added 2.1 million jobs — the slowest pace of annual job growth since 2011. Job gains for October and November were revised down by a total of 14,000.
Average wages have increased 2.9% over the last year, outpacing inflation and boosting workers' buying power. Wage gains are still relatively modest, however, given the rock-bottom jobless rate.
You often hear from politicians that expanding manufacturing jobs is key to growing the economy. It sounds good, making physical stuff.👷 You can see and touch things that are manufactured. But few Americans actually manufacture things, even though we are outputing more American-made products then ever before.🏭 American manufacturing is highly automated, it relies less and less on humans.
Americans typically make the most advanced devices and technologies in our country. We outsource lower-skilled manufacturing to other countries.🌏 Low-skilled manufacturing produces lower wages, and those low wages are not enough to pay for a decent living in the United States. Americans expect a good job, one with healthcare and a pension or retirement plan, something that can not be produced with a low-value product.🏥
The future of jobs in America is not in manufacturing. It’s in healthcare, education and creative professions like design, engineering and arts.🎭 The jobs of the future about designing products and providing services that Americans want. Traditionally, many of these jobs have offered less stability and benefits compared to old-line manufacturing.🕴
The solution is not to try to bring back obsolete industries, but instead ensure modern industries in America provide adequate benefits to workers. 🖥This can be done by government mandates or the government providing the service — e.g. opt-in to government retirement or healthcare plans.🙊 The economy is changing, and government shouldn’t stop low-wage jobs from off-shoring, but instead ensure workers are taken care of in the industries of tomorrow.
In her book, author Alissa Quart lays out how America’s middle class is being wiped out by the cost of living far outpacing salaries while a slew of traditionally secure professions — like teaching — can no longer guarantee a stable enough income to clothe and feed a family.
“Middle-class life is now 30 percent more expensive than it was 20 years ago,” Quart writes, citing the costs of housing, education, health care and child care in particular. “In some cases the cost of daily life over the last 20 years has doubled.”
In March 2009, Wall Street was a fearful and anxious place, where fortunes had been decimated and retirement funds deflated.
What few people could foresee in the depths of the Great Recession was that the stock market was also on the verge of a historic recovery, one that persists today. The decadelong run is also raising caution flags for some analysts who worry that investors are accepting too much risk.
Stocks are finishing 2019 on a remarkable upswing, with all of the major indexes hitting record highs and the S&P 500 up nearly 30% for the year.