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Human Capital | Workforce

March Job Trends
e21 Team | 2013-04-05

Today's employment situation report is a dismal one, coming in far below expectations. Every month, Matt McDonald at Hamilton Place Strategies produces a cheat sheet summarizing the key statistics and trends. Click on the image for a larger version.

January's Employment News
e21 Team | 2013-02-01

Today we received the first jobs report of 2013, pending any future revisions. Every month, Matt McDonald at Hamilton Place Strategies produces a cheat sheet summarizing the key statistics and trends. Click through for the graphic.

The December Employment Situation
e21 Team | 2013-01-04

Today we received the last jobs report of 2012, pending any future revisions. Every month, Matt McDonald at Hamilton Place Strategies produces a cheat sheet summarizing the key statistics and trends. Click on the image for a larger version.

Jobs Grow, but Unemployment Rate 7.9% and Paychecks Weak
David Malpass | 2012-11-02

Today’s Labor Department survey of business establishments showed total payrolls up 171,000 in October, well above the consensus. Revisions added 84,000 to August and September. The household survey found 410,000 net new jobs in October following 873,000 gains in September. Workers saying they worked part-time for economic reasons declined by 269,000 in October after rising 582,000 in September.

Non-Partisan Experts Support Fair-Value Estimates for Loan Programs
Jason Delisle | 2012-11-01

For the past two years, House Republicans included a provision in their budget resolution that allows lawmakers to use cost estimates for federal loan programs that more closely match those done by private entities. Such “fair-value” estimates are a more comprehensive measure of costs, revealing that loan programs across the board impose greater risks and higher costs on taxpayers than official rules under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 suggest. Democratic lawmakers haven’t supported fair-value accounting thus far, and President Obama’s 2013 budget includes several pages of subterfuge meant to cast doubt on the approach. Left-leaning think tanks oppose fair-value accounting, too.

The Great Student Loan Giveaway
Jason Delisle and Alex Holt | 2012-10-25

Last week, the New America Foundation published our report on the Obama administration’s pending changes to a federal student loan repayment plan, known as Income-Based Repayment (IBR). The Administration says the changes, enacted through regulation and scheduled to take effect later this year, are aimed at helping lower- and middle-income families struggling to repay their student loans. But our analysis, detailed in Safety Net or Windfall? Examining Changes to Income-Based Repayment for Federal Student Loans, finds that the changes will do a lot more than that.

Labor Outlook: Slow Growth
David Malpass | 2012-10-19

Consumption data improved a bit in September, but income growth, business investment and hiring have remained weak. We expect a 2% initial reading on third quarter GDP growth due October 26 versus the revised 1.3% rate in the second quarter. Under current economic policies, we expect weak GDP and job growth to continue into the fourth quarter, with downside risks in 2013 as the U.S. tax increase takes shape, the national debt burgeons and Europe extends its downturn.

Does the Government Really Need More Help Than the Private Sector?
Charles Blahous | 2012-06-14

Much has already been said and written about President Obama’s statements of last Friday that, “The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government.” I am disinclined to critique the President’s choice of words, which are routinely scrutinized to a degree that very few of us could withstand. I am nevertheless reminded of Michael Kinsley’s definition of a gaffe as being when a politician accidentally tells the truth – or, in this instance, what he believes to be true.

Today’s Student Loan Recipients are Tomorrow’s Economic Elite
e21 Staff Editorial | 2012-05-10

President Obama recently took to college universities and late night talk shows to tout his plan to keep student loan interest rates fixed at 3.4%. Since 2008 the Federal Government has effectively socialized the student loan market by enacting laws to eliminate private lender participation in administering Federal loans. As a consequence, student loans owned by the Federal Government have grown from $111 billion at the end of 2008 to $425 billion as of December 31, 2011. With a 9% default rate among borrowers and no collateral to cushion default severities, the program’s interest rate would be insufficient to cover expected credit losses at today’s default rates. Yet there is no appetite among elected officials for scaling back government involvement.

Measured Inequality: Fallacies and Overstatements
Christopher Papagianis | 2012-04-09

2012 is an election year, so it shouldn’t be surprising that opinion-editorial pages are increasingly publishing pieces about the rise of income inequality in America. The baton that John Edwards carried with his “two Americas” theme in 2004 has been passed on to others, who, like Steven Rattner in the New York Times, are arguing that “new statistics show an ever-more-startling divergence between the fortunes of the wealthy and everybody else.”


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