Tag "Unemployment"

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North America Politics

Midterm Series: What will it mean for energy markets?

Results of the midterm elections and local state races and the ensuing hydraulic fracturing and coal policies will affect international energy markets. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with strong ties

Latin America Politics

Brazil elections: Rousseff and Neves vie for Brazil’s top position

The upcoming election for the Brazilian presidency is tight, pitting center-right Aecio Neves against incumbent Workers’ Party President Dilma Rousseff.  The results could have major consequences for Brazil’s internal market,

Middle East/North Africa Politics

Tunisia’s democratic transition may face volatility in months ahead

While Tunisia urges foreign investors to trust its “startup democracy,” the investments remain far from risk-free. Three years after a young street vendor set himself on fire to protest the

Economics North America

Debunking US unemployment numbers

Do not mistake a rosy Bureau of Labor Statistics report for something that it is not. The unemployment rate did decrease in April, but only because 800,000 people exited the labour

Economics North America

How much slack does the U.S. labor market really have?

U.S. labor market slack, the unused part of economic production capacity, is an important economic indicator used by the Federal Reserve to determine forward guidance. The question is how much

Europe Politics

Stagnation fuels Bosnia protests

Since the beginning of February, demonstrations and riots in Bosnia & Herzegovina against the political and economic stagnation of the state have broken out throughout the country. The catalyst for the

Economics North America

America’s complicated relationship with the minimum wage

Raising the U.S. minimum wage is a powerful political idea that will increase both sales and labor costs for businesses. The debate over increasing the minimum wage in the U.S.

Economics North America

Fed debates changing forward guidance

The quickly falling US unemployment rate has caused the Federal Reserve to reevaluate how it communicates when it will raise interest rates. Recently released minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last

Economics North America

Can monetary policy address U.S. long-term unemployment?

With Janet Yellen newly confirmed as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, investors are now parsing her testimony to gain insight on the future direction of interest rates.   One particularly interesting piece

Economics North America

Expiration of jobless benefits poses growth risk to US economy

With benefits for the long-term unemployed ending at the beginning of 2014, forecasters are downgrading US growth projections. For 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers in the US, 2014 starts with