The president’s budget offers tax cuts for businesses, including a $5,000 tax credit for hiring new workers this year, help
for the unemployed and $25 billion more for cash-strapped state governments. Job creation will take precedence over stemming
a surging deficit.
There’s more evidence that the recession is over, as businesses restock inventories and both corporate and consumer spending
increases.
The federal stimulus programs are based largely on borrowing, not on taxation.
It’s the latest exhalation by a local hospital after massive
investment losses and a scary economy forced them to tighten their belts a year ago.
The Labor Department said today that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000, to a seasonally adjusted 432,000,
the lowest since July 2008.
The decade ahead could be a brutal one for America’s unemployed—and for people with jobs hoping for pay raises.
A fitful economic recovery is drawing strength from a stabilizing job market and signs that manufacturing will contribute
to the rebound. The evidence signals a better-than-expected end to the year, though doubts remain about growth in 2010.
The 131,000 jobs lost
in the 12 months ended in November amounted to a 7.2-percent decline and were nearly equivalent to the combined populations
of Carmel and Fishers.
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter, as the recovery got off to a weaker start than previously
thought.
However, signs suggest the economy will end 2009 on stronger footing.
The U.S. economy started the year in free-fall but is on track to end 2009 on stronger footing.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of new jobless claims rose to 480,000 last week, up 7,000 from the previous
week.
Businesses unexpectedly increased their inventories in October, halting a slide of 13 consecutive declines. The small gain,
along with a fifth straight increase in sales, raised hopes that businesses will begin restocking their depleted shelves,
helping support the economic recovery.
The number of newly laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, after falling for five straight
weeks.
The Labor Department said the economy shed only 11,000 jobs last month, a vast improvement from October’s revised total of
111,000.
The U. S. Commerce Department said productivity rose at an annual rate of 8.1 percent in the third quarter, the biggest jump
since 2003.
The recession decimated Indiana’s auto-parts makers, but many other manufacturers in the state survived. After a year
adrift in the recession, they see signs of land ahead.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that consumer spending rose a brisk 0.7 percent last month, following a pullback
in September.
FTR Associates analyst Jon Starks says truck manufacturers won’t feel an improved economy until at least late 2010.
