Oct 08 The Personalities and Priorities of Obama's Economic Team By Carolyn O'Hara Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for The New Yorker magazine, has penned a new account of how the main players on the White House economic team negotiate their different backgrounds and priorities in crafting high-stakes economic policies. Continue reading
Oct 08 How Much Will the H1N1 Flu Cost the U.S.? By Travis Daub Distribution centers around the country began receiving shipments of the much anticipated H1N1 flu vaccine this week. Those costs, as well as the economic blow of closed schools and lost productivity, could set back the fragile U.S. economy. Continue reading
Oct 07 How Does Global Financial Regulation Affect the Doha Round? Question: World leaders at the G-20 Summit issued plans for reregulating the financial industry to help solve the economic crisis. Yet, bizarrely those same leaders will push for completion of the current WTO negotiations… Continue reading
Oct 06 Is the High Jobless Rate Due to the Return of Discouraged Workers to the Pool? Question: Is there any [truth to the] idea that the jobless rate might have increased due to return of discouraged workers to the pool vs actual lost jobs? Paul Solman: None. Not in the data. “Discouraged workers” come in… Continue reading
Oct 06 Recession Grads Not Afraid to Turn Down Jobs A recent survey has found just 45 percent of college students offered a job this past spring accepted a position, begging the question, are recent graduates grasping the severity of the financial crisis?… Continue reading
Oct 06 Watch Commercial Real Estate May Be Next Victim of Recession Just two years ago an office space in midtown Manhattan could fetch close to $1.7 billion. Today, the same property trades for about $600 million. A sign the commercial real estate market will be the next shoe to drop in… Continue watching
Oct 05 The Great Recession Through an Economist's Walk to Work By Business Desk Editor’s note: Harvard economist Richard Freeman recently sent us a fascinating slide show he’d created of empty storefronts around the Boston area. We liked it so much that Paul sat down with Freeman a few days ago for an… Continue reading
Oct 02 More Grim News in the Sept. Jobs Numbers Paul Solman: Today’s unemployment data are grim. I began to write “startlingly grim” but then realized that, for those of us on-the-record pessimists with regard to green shoots and recovery, the numbers aren’t startling at all. Having been on the… Continue reading
Oct 02 Unemployment Hits 9.8%, Job Losses Accelerate By Maureen Hoch September was a rough month for the economy, with the unemployment rate rising from 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent as employers cut more jobs than expected, and more unemployed workers gave up searching for jobs. Continue reading
Oct 02 Watch Job Losses Rise, Dampening Hopes for a Quick Recovery Employers shed 263,000 jobs in September, more than analysts expected, bringing the jobless rate to 9.8 percent. Economics columnist David Leonhardt and labor expert Jacob Kirkegaard look at the numbers. Continue watching