by sslifer | May 8, 2025 | NumberNomics Notes, Productivity
May; 8, 2025 Unit labor costs might be a term that is not familiar to you. Unit labor costs represent the increase in compensation adjusted for the gains in productivity. You might think that if labor costs are rising that would put upward pressure on...
by sslifer | May 8, 2025 | NumberNomics Notes, Productivity
May 8, 2025 The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that hourly compensation rose 4.8% in the first quarter after climbing 3.7% in the fourth quarter. In the past year compensation has risen 2.7%. Growth in hourly compensation is a good thing, but that increase can...
by sslifer | May 6, 2025 | Miscellaneous, NumberNomics Notes
May 6, 2025 The trade deficit widened by $17.3 billion in March to a record to $140.5 billion after having narrowed by $7.5 billion in February Firms have been racing to import goods prior to the imposition of tariffs. Exports rose $0.5 billion or 0.2% in March to...
by sslifer | May 5, 2025 | NumberNomics Notes, Purchasing Managers Index
May 5, 2025 The Institute for Supply Management not only publishes an index of manufacturing activity each month, they publish two days later a survey of service sector firms. The business activity index declined 2.2 points in April to 53.7 after having risen 1.5...
by sslifer | May 2, 2025 | Commentary for the Week, NumberNomics Notes
May 2, 2025 The imposition of tariffs is causing massive distortions in the data. First quarter GDP declined 0.3%, but to get goods into the country prior to the imposition of tariffs in early April imports surged, subtracted a massive amount from GDP growth in that...
by sslifer | May 2, 2025 | NumberNomics Notes, Retail Sales
May 2, 2025 Unit car and truck sales declined 3.1% in February to a 17.273 pace after surging in March by 11.7%. Some of the gain in the past two months may be a bounceback from the very cold and snowy weather in January and the California wildfires. It may also...
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