Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Here is last week’s Economic News in Review Greenville SC.
New job growth continued to keep unemployment in check, while incomes were up and lay-offs ticked up slightly.
Unemployment
The economy added 215,000 jobs in July, which kept the unemployment rate hovering at 5.3 percent, according to last week's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Key areas of job growth were in the retail trade, healthcare, professional and technical services, and financial sectors.
Likewise, wages were up in July, with average hourly earnings for all private, non-farm employees rising to $24.99. Over the year, average hourly earnings have grown by 2.1 percent. The Bureau's report was largely in line with what the market was expecting to see.
"While the report was not overwhelming in strength, it showed the economy and the labor market to be performing well," Daiwa Capital Markets America's Chief Economist Michael Moran told MarketWatch.
Similarly steady, the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer continued to sit at 2.2 million, accounting for 26.9 percent of total unemployed. The number of persons employed part-time for economic reasons, such as their hours getting cut or only being able to find part-time work, held at 6.3 million in July. Likewise, the civilian labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.6 percent in July, after dipping 0.3 percent in June.
Incomes and Spending
The employment report's wage figures tracked with last week's report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in which personal incomes grew by $68.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, in June, and disposable personal income (DPI; income after taxes) increased by $60.6 billion, or 0.5 percent.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for June increased $25.9 billion, or 0.2 percent, which while growth, was down from prior months. Personal savings — which is DPI less PCE, interest payments and transfer payments — totaled $646.3 billion in June, which was up from May's $616.2 billion. The personal savings rate — which is savings as a percentage of DPI — ticked up to 4.8 percent in June from 4.6 percent in May.
Initial Jobless Claims
Turning to more current employment statistics, new claims for unemployment benefits filed by the recently laid off ticked up slightly, but remained at low levels. Initial jobless claims filed during the week ending August 1 hit 270,000, a 3,000-claim increase from the preceding week's total of 267,000 claims, the Employment and Training Administration reported last week.
The Administration's four-week moving average — considered a more stable measure of lay-offs — actually dropped to 268,250 claims, a decline of 6,500 claims from the previous week's average of 274,750.
Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Have a Big day,
Randy
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