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The Labor Department reports U.S. unemployment rate at 4.4% in April 2017, dropping slightly from 4.5% in March. Average hourly wage year over year growth is 2.5%. Including people working part time or those who dropped out of the labor market the unemployment rate was down from 8.9% to 8.6%. 211,000 jobs were added in April 2017- this makes the average for three months 174,000. But the picture for marginalized workers because of skills erosion, location, and other factors is still an issue- the labor participation rate fell from 63% to 62.9%.

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US president Biden gives a rousing and vigorous speech drawing a picture of his vision for the country and contrasting that with the chaos, prejudice and lack of action on key issues facing America of his predecessor. On defending democracy, on Ukraine and Europe, on the economy and jobs, on preschool and education, on pharmaceutical cost reduction, on fair taxes and cutting the deficit while investing in manufacturing and new jobs, on all these issues he drew a sharp contrast with the predecessor and former president. He also drew on the tradition of America for democracy and called on America to move forward in line with its values and decency and diversity, not go backwards in the way of his predecessor. He said it was not about being young or old as he was considered too young when he was the youngest senator of the US at 29 years of age, and now people talk of me being old. It was of not being old in the way that the oldest emotions are of hate and resentment reminding people of his predecessor's sharp language about other people and cultures. ...

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Krugman points out that the federal tax rate for the top 1% is 34% in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office, because president Obama let the high end Bush tax cuts to expire. It is the number to remember says Krugman- 34. In 2008 the figure was 28.2. Under Hillary Clinton the average tax rate for the top 1% would go up by 3.4 percentage points, according to the Tax Policy Center. Some of this would help pay for the tution plan to provide access to the middle class to public universities. Under populist Trump, Krugman points to the elimination of the inheritance tax and tax rates going down substantially, and no such programs to promote the upward mobility that everyone is talking about, and no way to pay for a big infrastructure building effort for growth and jobs- upward mobility that is the focus of every candidate's election campaign including Sanders, Trump in appealing to older white working class families, Clinton, Ryan, Bush, and others in both parties.   ...

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Only a 50-50 chance of a job for U.S. law school graduates in 2012.

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Some startling statistics on U.S. wages and incomes and the increase of part-time workers, by the publisher of U.S. News and World Report, Mortimer Zuckerman. He cites the Pew Research Center reports that show one third of Americans identifying themeselves as lower class or lower middle class compared to one quarter before 2008. This affects social mobility with the increasing gaps in incomes, education and social behaviour acting to reinforce each other and leading to even lower future mobility. Industries that are showing growth are in low wage occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows growth in future in industries noted for low wage part time work- health care, social assistance and retail, with some jobs lacking minimum wage and overtime protections. Revealing in this respect is that in the last 2 years fully 43% of net employment growth is in the 1.7 million jobs added in low wage work in food service, retail and employment services industries. The number of Americans working full time declined by 5.9 million since Sept 2007, part time workers increased by 2.6 million. The effects of higher part time workers and job recovery predominantly in lower wage industries is likely to affect consumer spending and slow growth....

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Ford Motor is building a manufacturing plant for EV cars on a 3600 acre site in Stanton, Tennessee. This will add 6000 jobs to this part of rural Tennessee.

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Global Foundries based in New York and STMicroelectronics based in Switzerland are teaming up to invest $5.7 billion for a semiconductor factory in Crolles, in southeastern France. The French government will provide additional funding and support for a new home based technology supply chain. The plant will create 1000 jobs.

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Douthat says the record of Texas in jobs, in education, in minority achievement, in rising wages, and in preventing a real estate bubble is genuine and needs to be respected. He is uncertain as to how much of this is a result of Rick Perry's leadership in the state.

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Japan is meeting a shortage of workers by bringing in workers from other countries including China. In jobs ranging from apple picking to airport baggage handling Japan is getting foreign workers, and making changes in its immigration laws. Prime minister Abe is pushing for these changes to increase growth of the Japanese economy. In the past 4 years the number of foreign workers has nearly doubled to 1.46 million and a new visa system will accelerate the process to bring in more workers. Out of 27 countries in a Pew Survey Japan is the only country where more people favor immigration to rise than those who think it should decline. The Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr. Suga says- " In my view that shows how real the labor shortage problem is." Immigration authorities say they gave visas to only 82 refugees in 2018, less than 1% of those applying, so that there is not a sense of recasting Japan as a nation of immigrants or fulfilling any obligation to accept people from war torn nations. The problem Japan is facing is that 3 in 10 people are over 65 years old. In 2018 the population declined by 430,000, causing a need for job applicants. In fact cities and towns are looking for new ways to hire older workers who retired by offering flexible hours. ...

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The BBC Fact check for crime, cost of living, immigration, world affairs is shown next to this transcript of the former president's speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 2024. The biggest issue is cost of living, for housing, food and groceries, gas and automobiles new and repairs. "I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy . We will drill, baby, drill. Prices will start to come down." Fact: Gas prices may come down a bit, but it will do little or nothing for the other major components of cost of living - for housing and mortgage rates of 6-7%, for automobile prices and auto repairs, for food and groceries.The problem of job creation will come to the fore because of an inherent contradiction of trying to commit to Republican old platform of tax cuts for the wealthy and efforts to take cost of living action for the now larger lower and middle classes. Without this money that goes to tax cuts for wealthy there is not much to invest in Make at Home, in manufacturing in US the way Biden is doing and plans for next 4 years creating hundreds of thousands of jobs every month and still keeping inflation low at 3% through an investment driven economy. ...

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The RNC speech of the former president is described by the WSJ Editorial Board as long and rambling for 90 minutes after a good start becoming a typical speech that did not broaden the appeal, and with its random comments lacking clarity. The former president's claims on crime up when it is actually down by 15% according to FBI. On inflation and cost of living the inflation peaked at 9% is now down to 3% in 2023 with cost of living actions by Biden and Powell. The former president's solution to "Drill, baby drill," would only affect gas prices a bit, and do nothing for the principal causes of inflation in housing, in rental of apartments, in prices of automobiles and auto repairs, and in cost of drugs, student loans. Only a concerted action on all fronts as Biden and Powell have done would work, along with large investments in American manufacturing and jobs, which can only be done if no tax cuts are made for the wealthy not in the Republican platform. This means the hundreds of thousands of job creation each month happening now will stall and inflation from supply chains in China will be harder to control especially with a 60% Trump proposed tariff on Chinese imports. ...

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President Biden tells the US Congress- "Capitalism without competition is not capitalism. It is extortion." He questioned the form of capitalism in which the largest corporations and tech companies do not pay their fair share of taxes.

"And where is it written that American can't lead the world in manufacturing. And I don't know where that is written. For too many decades we imported projects and exported jobs."

About his planned investments for new factories and jobs- "we're seeing these fields of dreams transform the heartland."

"And now we're coming back because we came together and passed the bipartisan infrastructure law, the largest investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System. Folks, we've already funded 20,000 projects. And folks we're just getting started. We're just getting started."

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This WSJ editorial shows a 3.1% decline in purchasing power lost to inflation since president Biden took office, average hourly earnings declining from $11.39 to $11.03. Yet it is also true that inflation has been cut in half in May 2023 to 4% compared to a high of 9% in 2022. Inflation is much higher in the UK and Europe. President Biden also passed the Inflation Reduction Act, intervened in energy markets to lower oil prices with policies to reduce prices for Russian oil. Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve is aggressively tackling inflation. Investments in manufacturing in the US and in infrastructure will increase jobs and strengthen the US economy in 2023-2025. This was given the name Bidenomics yet it is about president Biden and policymakers looking carefully at what works to increase jobs, increase wages, and support workers and families, and build American manufacturing and infrastructure for a strong economy.

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After recovering from the eurozone financial crisis Spain is recovering with low inflation of 1.8%, and growth of 2.4% in 2024, 2.1% in 2025, and unemployment at 11.2%. Even with high unemployment prime minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain sees new immigrant workers aiding higher growth and supporting pensions- Spain's tourism growth also supports this. “The contribution of migrant workers to our economy is fundamental, as is the sustainability of our social security system and pensions.” This makes Spain one of the only countries to continue supporting legal migration to the country- 250,000 are needed both in high skilled jobs in hospitality and construction, and "invisible" jobs in agriculture and other places. 1 million migrants will arrive each year till 2028. Spain will also give legal stats to 500,000 undocumented migrants mostly from Latin America including Venezuela's middle class. ...

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Walter Isaacson's "The Innovators," covers the beginnings of the silicon chip with William Shockley in the fifties and the first transistor. Pat Haggerty at Texas Instruments has the marketing ability to get people interested in transistors for radios, just as Steve Jobs did for iPods, iPads and iPhones, products they did not know they wanted until they tried them. Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, Gates of Microsoft, Jobs at Apple, Brin and Page at Google, and the internet developent, is covered as more recent material. No one person does it as each is standing on the shoulders of people before them. Social media does not get much attention. The messy work of venture capital and the errors and missteps of Apple and Microsoft are given less attention in Isaacson's exuberance and enthusiasm for the inventors. Patents play a part as the inventor Atanasoff did little to patent his creation of the first computer in the 1940's ,and instead was forgotten, as John Mauchly who based his invention on some of the same ideas took his place....

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Growing number of parttime workers and poverty levels in Japan. About 16% of the population in Japan lives on an income that is half the national median income, which is the way the government defines poverty. OECD studies in 2011 show Japan as sixth from the bottom of 34 members of the OECD. The poor quality of jobs is worsening the problem of the working poor, just as it is in the U.S. with lower wage manufacturing jobs and very low wage jobs in retail/ restaurant industries. Experts say the problem has worsened since 2012 when prime minister Abe was elected. Since 2012 the number of part time or irregular workers without permanent contracts has increased by 1.5 million, with parttime workers at 20 million, or 40% of the Japanese workforce. They point to the parental support with many young workers living at home, as is true also of Spain and Italy, that has mitigated their difficult situation. This piece in the Economist provides insights into the condition of parttime lower wage workers in Japan, a large number of whom are young people, a situation similiar to that in some European countries such as Spain and Italy. At the very low end as Japanese local and national governments- under pressure to cut spending with its high debt- reduce benefits, more people have been added to the welfare rolls with 2 million people now on welfare....

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The title may not reflect the content of this report on Admiral Giroir who heads the U.S. coronavirus testing effort. He is a pediatrician who worked for hospitals in Texas before heading a vaccine project at Texas A&M University.  Internal politics led to his resigning from the effort to build a vaccine development capability with pharmaceutical companies at Texas A&M. Most of the rest of this report shows a physician who is determined to pursue big projects such as the one he is tackling today. President Trump appointed him to lead FDA, and to be the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. With the missteps of Secretary Azar testing suffered in the early months of the crisis as reported in the WSJ. Adm. Giroir has taken a leading role since  this period. He also heads the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps of 6200 staff playing a vital role. On March 13 he was asked to lead the effort in testing.  He comes to this role with experience in the field of vaccines realizing that "the challenges are not just biological but engineering." New technology would be needed to make massive amounts of vaccine. His idea is that transformational efforts are needed. His idea for a billion dose per month facility in Texas did not work, yet he worked on it for about 5 years from 2010 to 2015 at Texas A&M University, at one point being the vice chancellor. He was selected by Texas Governor Perry as chairman of the task force in Texas in 2014 to oversee the effort to fight the Ebola virus. He now is in a position to bring all his experience and aspirations to tackle the coronavirus, cutting through much of the red tape and bureaucracy, and pulling together the effort combining science of pharmaceutical companies with the technology of manufacturing billions of vaccine doses in a record time. Today he sees capacity for testing reaching 40-50 million tests a month by September 2020.   ...

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Alan Mulally talks to Charlie Rose about cost competitiveness, negotiations with the UAW, creating jobs, and the repayment of $20 billion of the $23.5 billion borrowed in 2006. Mullaly points out that 70% of R&D is connected with design and manufacturing- all the technology that goes into designing and building and the associated R&D.

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Humor from The Times on girl's schools, pricey law firm jobs, and father's day during the pandemic when what matters most is health and wellness, inner spiritual wellbeing. 

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The shift of offshore manufacturing jobs from China to Mexico in 2014-2015.

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Young people in China express their anxiety about the economic situation in China on social media sites Weibo and WeChat. People compare the situation today in China with the situation in Japan after 1987. Young people worry about job security, some car-pool to save on gas, and others reduce expenses to increase savings. Lin Mo runs a financial column offering advice to readers on WeChat online site. In 2015 7.5 million new graduates will come out of Chinese universities, up 3% from 2014. There is a great deal of anxiety for these graduates as new job opportunities will be fewer for those not well connected or having skills in high demand.

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Upskilling the workforce has huge potential to add jobs in India, says this report in DW.com. It cites India Skills Report 2021. The federal government's new education policy is intended to tackle some of these issues, yet more needs to be done to focus on this issue for Skills India and improvement for the future.

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Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the Saudi king Salman, oversees economic policy. He says stock sales of 5% of Saudi Aramco will be used to create a sovereign wealth fund of about $2 trillion that would help create the jobs with income from overseas investments and projects at home. About three times the jobs created in 2003-2013 will be needed with the demographic changes, according to McKinsey consultants. This will act as a diversification away from oil income dependence.

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Brazil's unemployment rate dropped slightly in 2013 to 5.4% from 5.5% in 2012, according to Brazil's Institute for Geography and Statistics. Fewer people are entering the workforce as Brazil's population ages, which has helped keep labor markets tight even with a low rate of job creation. Industrial jobs have declined as a share of overall employment after the recent consumer boom in Brazil. More service jobs are being created than industrial jobs as a result of a stronger currency. GDP growth was less than 3%, according to the statistics agency. Higher inflation constrains growth and the central bank increased the interest rate by 0.5% to 10.5%. Wages have kept up with inflation as the average monthly wage increased by 1.8% after inflation to 1,929 reais ($798) for the ninth year. President Rousseff's Worker's party has governed Brazil since Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva became president in 2003. She is likely to be reelcted in this year's elections as polls show her support at 47%. The lower middle classes which benefitted as the middle class expanded in Brazil supports Rousseff. ...

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As the U.S. and Eurozone countries manufacturing recovers it remains much slower in Japan and South Korea. Weak global trade means companies cut jobs in July and activity contracted in Japan and South Korea.