Tag Archives: Wages

Really, How Was That Employment Report?

Posted on June 4, 2018 by

Summary Friday’s payroll numbers were very good, slightly above the trend increase over the past 92 months, but does not live up to the hype Job creation during President Trump’s first 16 payroll reports is almost 500k lower than under … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Supply (lack of ) Driven Bull Market

Posted on November 22, 2017 by

I had an interesting conversation with an economist friend this morning about inflation and excess capacity. He sees no evidence of excess capacity in the U.S. economy, including the service sector, where he cannot find, say, a plumber for hire … Continue reading →

Posted in Charts, Equities, Inflation/Deflation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

US wage battle continues – FT

Posted on April 16, 2015 by

Moves by Walmart and McDonald’s to raise the hourly wage for workers to nearly $10 an hour merely encouraged more low-paid staff to join a US-wide day of action, say organisers. The FT’s Christopher Booker reports from NYC’s protests. For … Continue reading →

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Manufacturing Compensation Costs

Posted on December 25, 2012 by

Nice charts from the BLS.   Even though the big countries — China and India — it does give a a sense of the relative competitiveness of nations. Chart 1 – Average hourly compensation costs in U.S. manufacturing, at $35.53 in … Continue reading →

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Hours of Work Needed to Buy An Ounce of Gold

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

More great work from our friends at The Chart Store.  It now takes over 88 hours of work at the average hourly wage to buy an ounce of gold.   What an incredible increase in the relative price of gold and … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Gold | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Employment & Wage Trends in New York City

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

Great data from from the BLS.   The average annual wage in New York’s financial industry more than tripled from 1990 to 2009.  These numbers, even though employment in the industry declined by close to 20 percent,  makes us want to … Continue reading →

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China Notes from the Yum! Brands Earnings Call

Posted on October 5, 2011 by

Today’s Yum! Brands’ earnings conference call was dominated by China.  Management talked a lot about commodity inflation running around 8 percent and 20% labor inflation, which they do not yet see abating.   This doesn’t square with the August official inflation … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, China, Commodities | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment