This author has not written his bio yet.
But we are proud to say that Joshua Elliott-Traficante contributed 109 entries already.
As we do every month, we take a closer look at the monthly jobs report, released the first Friday of the month. January saw the national unemployment rate increase from 7.8% to 7.9%. Looking into the data, there are few signs of growth. In short, much like December, January saw the labor market remain in neutral.
Much has been made in the past few years over the dysfunction of Illinois’ finances and the legislature’s inability to get the state’s fiscal house in order; however, rating agencies are taking a closer look at another factor that weighs heavily on state finances: pensions.
According to the foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings in New Hampshire fell again in December, marking the third straight month of decreases. Statewide, 405 houses received a foreclosure filing, compared to 578 in November and 739 in October. There are currently 3703 foreclosure properties in the state.
According to the New Hampshire Employment Security, December’s unemployment rate for the state was 5.7%, a .1 percentage point increase over last month. This upturn translates to 430 additional unemployed workers. There were 7368 initial claimants over the month with 45,784 continued claimants.
A proposed hike on the Beer Tax hike would push New Hampshire’s rate to nearly four times that of Massachusetts. The state Beer Tax is currently assessed on brewers at $0.30 per gallon sold, with the cost passed on to consumers. HB 168, introduced by Reps Charles Weed and Richard Eaton, would increase the beer tax by $0.10 per gallon, putting the tax at $0.40 per gallon.
Yesterday’s approval by the Capital Budget Overview Committee to use Turnpike Credits to help fund a transportation study of the Capitol Corridor has revived hopes of commuter rail in New Hampshire. The Corridor project, if completed in its entirety, would see passenger rail service run from Concord through Manchester and Nashua, continuing south into North Station in Boston.
With the US Treasury rapidly closing in on another debt limit ceiling, the idea of minting trillion dollar platinum coins to get around Congressional approval of a debt limit hike has gained some steam in the pundit world and with the public at large. It has even spawned the twitter hashtag #mintthecoin and a White House petition in support of the proposal.
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report for December, which showed that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8%. The BLS also revised the November rate upwards to 7.8% from 7.7%. Establishment Survey (i.e. employer) data showed that roughly 155,000 jobs were created. As we do every month, we delve deeper in the unemployment data to gain a better understanding of the labor market.
November saw New Hampshire’s foreclosure filings drop to 578. This reverses last month’s spike to 739. From the data it is not clear what caused the jump in October, but whatever the cause, it was only temporary. Of the 578 properties in question, roughly half were headed to the auction block, while the other half […]
Dear Friends and Sponsors, On behalf of the Josiah Bartlett Center, thank you to all for attending our Libertas Award dinner. Tonight we celebrate Raymond J. Wieczorek and the commitment to principled and limited government. The Libertas Award is named after the Roman goddess of Liberty and is meant to symbolize the inseparable link between […]