Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
Over the July 4th weekend, public radio stations across the country broadcast the one-hour documentary “War on Poverty” From The Great Society to The Great Recession.” The program was produced by American RadioWorks with funding from the Northwest Area Foundation.
Click here to listen to the documentary, or click here to read a transcript.
In a recent speech in Baton Rouge, LA, Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, spoke about the uncertain state of the American economy. From Lockhart’s speech:
So, to pull this together, a recovery of the national economy is proceeding but not yet with solid and sustainable underpinnings. Inflation appears restrained. The outlook from here is beset by somewhat more than normal uncertainty. There is a chance of overachieving forecasts of moderate growth and gradual reduction of unemployment, but at the same time there are notable risks. In my view, these circumstances suggest caution in moving away from policies designed to give the economy the best possible prospect of recovery with full employment. Adjustment of monetary policy will be needed eventually, but this is not the time.
…
Recent developments make me even more convinced that current policy is appropriate. Financial markets and many businesses are more nervous today than a few weeks and months ago, and it’s my view that monetary policymakers should hold to a guarded policy stance and evaluate carefully the risk and reward of a change of policy.
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
For the benefit week ending on June 19th, 12,065 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits, and 149,195 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were fewer initial and continuing claims. These figures come from data released today by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Averaging new and continuing claims over a four-week period — a process that helps adjust for seasonal fluctuations and better illustrates trends — shows that an average of 12,600 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 154,539 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, there were fewer initial and continuing claims.
One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 22,426 and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 211,307.
The graph (right) shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims (as a share of covered employment) in North Carolina since the recession’s start in December 2007.
Both new and continuing claims appear to have peaked for this business cycle, and the four-week average of new claims has fallen considerably. Yet continuing claims remain at an elevated level, which suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it difficult to find new positions.
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