Economy in Brief

Participation rates in the labor force have been declining for decades. Friday's household employment report, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicated that they reached new lows. December's 63.6% participation rate, which is the [...]

After their surge in November, unit sales of light motor vehicles eased 1.0% in December to 15.37M (SAAR, and 12.9% above December 2011) according to Autodata Corporation. The latest figure surpassed the Bloomberg survey consensus [...]

The Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) improved to 56.1 last month from an unrevised 54.7 during November. The figure compared to Consensus expectations for a slip [...]

Labor market improvement during 2012 is evidenced in most employment measures. For all of last year, nonfarm payrolls grew 1.4% and added to their 1.2% rise in 2011. Regrettably, however, these gains pale in comparison to the 4.0% or [...]

The number of layoffs fell for the holidays. The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 32,556 job cuts were announced during December. The latest level was nearly the lowest for the economic recovery and [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 372,000 (2.8% y/y) during the week ended December 29 from 362,000 during the week prior, revised from 350,000. Consensus expectations were for 355,000 claims. The four week moving [...]

Private sector payrolls jumped 215,000 last month according to the ADP/Moody's National Employment Report. The gain followed an upwardly revised 148,000 November increase and easily outpaced consensus expectations for a 135,000 rise, [...]

Construction activity suffered in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The value of construction put-in-place fell 0.3% during November after a downwardly revised 0.7% October increase. The decline compared to consensus expectations for a [...]