FROM the Philadelphia Fed: The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the leading indexes for the 50 states for July 2014. The indexes are a six-month forecast of the state coincident indexes (also released by the Bank). Forty-five state coincident indexes are projected to grow over the next six months, while five are projected […]
THE Center for Workforce Research and Information released average weekly wage data for the first quarter of this year for Maine. Overall, wages leveled off from Q1 2013 to Q1 2014, with real wages for all industries declining $1.40, and real wages for service providing industries and goods producing industries declining $1.59 and $2.56, respectively. […]
LITTLE need to rehash much of what I have said about the skills gap (see here, here, here, and here), but a recent article from the Harvard Business Review titled Employers Aren’t Just Whining – the “Skills Gap” Is Real. In this article, James Bessen picks up where other skills gap proponents leave off in their […]
THE BDN republished a Washington Post article regarding tax inversions. Tax reversions, as well as the corporate tax code in general, are moving closer to the center of public debate, with the issue of corporate tax reform now overlapping with the issue of corporate person-hood. While some may question the ‘economic patriotism’ of companies renouncing their […]
YESTERDAY, Mario Moretto wrote a piece in the BDN regarding the state’s $49 million surplus for fiscal year 2014. He writes (my emphasis): When the books closed June 30 on the 2014 fiscal year, the state had more than $49 million in surplus. A significant chunk of that extra cash came from individual and corporate […]
From the Philadelphia Fed: The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for July 2014. In the past month, the indexes increased in 41 states, decreased in five, and remained stable in four, for a one-month diffusion index of 72. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 47 states, […]
THE impact of the ACA on the nation’s weak economic recovery continues to draw analysis and discussion. One argument opponents of the ACA often make is that it is driving workers to cut hours and shift workers to part-time status. To bolster this argument they often cite elevated levels in part-time employment. While total part-time employment […]
THE BLS released the state employment data for July, revealing that Maine’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.5%, down 1.2% points from one year ago. From the CWRI: Household Survey Estimates – The preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.5 percent for July was unchanged from June and down from 6.7 percent one year ago. […]
Jared Bernstein has a pretty interesting post up regarding the Beveridge Curve, which in turn has some impact on the skills gap arguments taking place in Maine. Skills gap proponents in Maine like to point to national trends to bolster their argument that the state is suffering from the national trend. On the national level, skills […]
SIN taxes (a form of a Pigou Tax) are used to discourage the consumption of a good–think pollution. In theory, the taxes are imposed to pay for the negative externalities caused by consumption of that good (damage to third-party property owners in the case of pollution). The revenues are costs are in equilibrium because the […]
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