Tag Archives: Jobs

U.S. jobless claims rise, labor market still tightening

Applicants fill out applications for jobs

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected lastcweek, but the underlying trend remained consistent withctightening labor market conditions.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increasedc22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended Jan. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 3,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market, for 99 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

Last week’s data included the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which could have impacted on the data. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of different timings of the various holidays.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,000 to 245,500 last week, the lowest since November 1973.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 247,000 in the latest week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s data and no states had been estimated.

The labor market is viewed as being at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate near a nine-year low of 4.7 percent. With the labor market tightening, wage growth is picking up, which should provide a boost to the economy through strong consumer spending and a continued housing market recovery.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid increased 41,000 to 2.1 million in the week ended Jan. 14.

The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims fell 1,250 to 2.1 million. The continuing claims data covered the survey week for January’s unemployment rate.

The four-week average of claims increased 49,000 between the December and January survey weeks, suggesting little change in the unemployment rate this month.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

((Lucia.Mutikani@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8315; Reuters

Messaging: lucia.mutikani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Trump calls for more U.S. auto jobs, factories ahead of CEO meeting

Ford logo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday will push the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to increase production in the United States and boost American employment.

“I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!” Trump said in a tweet ahead of the breakfast meeting with automakers, saying he would discuss U.S. jobs with the chief executives.

Trump has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles.

The meeting is the latest sign of Trump’s uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly jawboned automakers and other manufacturers to “buy American and hire American.”

It will be the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers meet jointly with a U.S. president since a July 2011 session with then-president Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday said Trump “looks forward to hearing their ideas about how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry.”

U.S. and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump’s comments. The Republican president made attacks on Ford’s Mexico investments a cornerstone of his campaign.

Automakers have praised Trump’s policies, but emphasized that the recent employment moves were the result of business, not political decisions, that had mostly been in the works for a long period.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Trump to talk manufacturing with executives, meet labor leaders

President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump planned to hold meetings on Monday with business and labor leaders at the start of his first full week in office, seeking to work quickly on his campaign promise to boost the American manufacturing sector and deliver more jobs.

The Republican, who took office on Friday after eight years of a Democratic White House, was scheduled to meet with business leaders at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) and then hold an afternoon meeting with labor leaders and U.S. workers, according to his schedule.

The White House, which announced the meetings in a schedule released late on Sunday, did not name company executives or union leaders who would take part. White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

Trump said on Twitter early on Monday that he planned to discuss U.S. manufacturing with executives but gave no other details.

“Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security,” Trump said in a tweet. “Top executives coming in at 9:00 A.M. to talk manufacturing in America.”

The morning gathering will include Dow Chemical Co Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris, according to a person briefed on the meeting.

Trump named Liveris in December to lead a private-sector group on manufacturing that will advise the U.S. secretary of commerce. Trump’s designated commerce secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, is known for backing tariffs and fighting to protect U.S. manufacturers but has also sent jobs abroad.

Before taking office, Trump hosted a number of U.S. CEOs in meetings in New York, including business leaders from defense, technology and other sectors. He also met with leaders of several unions, including the AFL-CIO.

Trump, a real estate developer, has particularly focused on manufacturing, lamenting during his inaugural address on Friday about “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation” and vowing to boost U.S. industries over foreign ones.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Roberta Rampton and David Shepardson; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Lisa Von Ahn and Frances Kerry)

Wal-Mart to create 10,000 U.S. jobs in 2017

A general view shows a Wal-Mart store in Monterrey, Mexico,

(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores said it would create about 10,000 jobs in the United States this year, adding to its near 1.5 million workforce in the country, by opening or remodeling stores and investing in its e-commerce business.

The number of jobs being created is consistent with previous years, said Lorenzo Lopez, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. retailer and private employer.

Several U.S. companies, particularly automakers, have announced plans to create jobs in the United States since the U.S. election victory of Donald Trump.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has repeatedly singled out and criticized companies across industries for not doing more to keep jobs in the United States.

General Motors Co will announce as early as Tuesday long-held plans to invest about $1 billion in its U.S. factories, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)

Weekly jobless claims rise; import prices push higher

Job applicants listen to presentation for job opening at job fair

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, pointing to a tightening labor market that is starting to spur faster wage growth.

Other data on Thursday showed import prices posting their largest gain in nearly five years in the 12 months through December, suggesting that inflation could soon push higher. Import prices are being driven by rising oil prices, but a strong dollar could limit some of the impact on inflation.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 247,000 for the week ended Jan. 7, the Labor Department said. It was the 97th straight week that jobless claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

“Jobless claims remain in a very constructive range and are still evidence of an environment in which turnover is low and employers are generally content to maintain and expand their payrolls,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Economists had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 255,000 in the latest week.

Jobless claims data tends to be volatile around the holiday season. The four-week moving average, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 1,750 to 256,500 last week.

The number of Americans still receiving jobless benefits after an initial week of aid fell 29,000 to 2.09 million in the week ended Dec. 31. That was the first decline in the so-called continuing claims since November.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data amid disappointment over the lack of details regarding president-elect Donald Trump’s economic policy on Wednesday during his first press conference since his Nov. 8 election victory.

Stocks on Wall Street were trading lower, while prices for U.S. government debt rose. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies also as minutes from the European Central Bank’s last meeting revealed a few policymakers had not backed an extension of the ECB’s bond buying program.

During his election campaign Trump pledged to cut taxes, increase spending on infrastructure and relax regulations. While he has offered few details on these election promises, economists are hoping that the proposed fiscal stimulus would boost economic growth this year.

The stimulus would come against the backdrop of a labor market that is at or near full employment, with the unemployment rate near a nine-year low of 4.7 percent.

With tightening labor market conditions starting to push up wage growth, that could stoke inflation pressures and prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a faster pace than currently envisaged.

The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate last month by 25 basis points to a range of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent. The U.S. central bank has forecast three rate hikes for this year. Average hourly earnings increased 2.9 percent in the 12 months through December, the largest gain since June 2009.

In a second report, the Labor Department said import prices increased 0.4 percent last month as the cost of petroleum products surged 7.9 percent. Import prices slipped 0.2 percent in November.

In the 12 months through December, import prices jumped 1.8 percent, the largest gain since March 2012, after edging up 0.1 percent in the 12 months through November.

Import prices are rising as the drag from lower oil prices fades. Oil prices have risen above $50 per barrel.

Import prices excluding petroleum, however, fell 0.2 percent in December after being unchanged the prior month. This decline in underlying import prices likely reflects sustained dollar strength. Prices of imported automobiles, consumer and capital goods fell last month.

The dollar rose 4.4 percent against the currencies of the United States’ main trading partners last year, with most of the gains coming in the wake of Trump’s victory.

“While the drag on import price inflation stemming from energy is fading, dollar headwinds have resurfaced,” said Sarah House an economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We expect the renewed strength in the dollar to remain a challenge for import price reflation in the coming months, but the rebound in energy prices should more than offset any drag.”

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Chizu Nomiyama)

Jobless claims fall to near 43-year low

Job seekers

WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 43 year-low last week, pointing to further tightening in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 235,000 for the week ended Dec. 31, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was close to the 233,000 touched in mid-November, which was the lowest level since November 1973.

Claims for the prior week were revised to show 2,000 fewer applications received than previously reported. But with claims data for six states and one territory estimated because of the New Year’s holiday, last week’s drop likely exaggerates the labor market’s strength.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 5,750 to 256,750 last week.

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market, for 96 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

The labor market is considered to be at or near full employment, with the jobless rate at a nine-year low of 4.6 percent. Tightening labor market conditions and gradually firming inflation allowed the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate last month by 25 basis points to a range of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent.

While the U.S. central bank forecast three rate hikes for 2017, minutes of the Dec. 13-14 policy meeting released on Wednesday suggested that the pace of increases would largely be determined by the labor market and fiscal policy.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 260,000 in the latest week. Claims briefly pushed higher last month and in November, but economists blamed the gyrations on difficulties adjusting the data around moving holidays.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s data. That data has no bearing on December’s employment report, which is scheduled for release on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 178,000 jobs in December after the same gain in November.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose 16,000 to 2.11 million in the week ended Dec. 24. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims increased 26,250 to 2.07 million.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Ford halting Venezuela production until April, executive says

Ford logo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co <F.N> halted auto production in Venezuela last week and will not resume it until April, a company executive said on Tuesday, in another blow to the crisis-wracked country’s manufacturing sector.

“It is a measure to adjust production to demand in the country,” Lyle Watters, Ford’s president for South America, told reporters at an event in São Paulo, adding that the plant affected by the shutdown employs 2,000 workers.

Watters said the production freeze would not affect Ford’s consolidated results as operations in Venezuela are reported separately. Beginning in the first quarter of this year, Venezuela became the only wholly owned Ford unit with operating results that are excluded from the full company’s income statement.

In January 2015, Ford took a charge related to its Venezuelan operations that cut fourth-quarter net profit by $700 million. Ford is the only automaker still mass producing cars in Venezuela, even on a limited scale.

Vehicle production in recession-hit Venezuela is less than 8 cars a day, according to figures provided by the national automakers organization Cavenez. Ford produced 2,253 units out of a paltry national total of 2,768 in the year through November.

It takes less than two days for Ford at one of its larger U.S. plants to make as many vehicles as the company has made in Venezuela so far in 2016.

Ford in 2014 halted production for about a month due to a lack of foreign currency to import parts for assembly.

In mid-2015, Ford’s major U.S. rival, General Motors Co <GM.N>, stopped making vehicles in Venezuela altogether. GM had one plant in Venezuela.

(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi and additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas, writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Tom Brown and Alistair Bell)

U.S. jobless claims decline from five-month high

help wanted sign in Colorado

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell from a five-month high last week, pointing to labor strength that underscores the economy’s sustained momentum.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000 for the week ended Dec. 3, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised.

It was the 92nd straight week that claims were below 300,000, a threshold which is associated with a healthy labor market. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much smaller.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 258,000 in the latest week. Claims hit a 43-year low in mid-November.

Economists had dismissed the recent back-to-back increases in filings, which had pushed claims to a five-month high, as an aberration. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of different timings of the Thanksgiving holiday.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week’s data and that no states had been estimated. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 1,000 to 252,500 last week.

The labor market is near full employment, with the government reporting last week that the unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low of 4.6 percent in November amid solid increases in nonfarm payrolls.

A tight labor market together with signs of a strengthening economy and steadily rising inflation will likely push the

Federal Reserve to hike interest rates at its Dec. 13-14 policy meeting. The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark overnight interest rate last December for the first time in nearly a decade.

Thursday’s claims report also showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 79,000 to 2.01 million in the week ended Nov. 26. That followed two straight weekly increases.

The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims slipped 9,500 to 2.03 million.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Cisco to lay off about 14,000 employees: tech news site CRN

person walking past Cisco logo

(Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc is laying off about 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker’s global workforce, technology news site CRN reported, citing sources close to the company.

Cisco, which is due to report fourth-quarter results later on Wednesday, is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said. (http://bit.ly/2bEQfa3)

“We think it’s true,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a client note, referring to the report.

“As we’ve met with investors in recent weeks, we’ve picked up on concerns that Cisco may be looking to reduce headcount in the not-too-distant future.”

If confirmed, it would be the second big tech industry layoff of a similar scale announced this year. Intel Corp said in April that it would slash up to 12,000 jobs globally, or 11 percent of its workforce.

San Jose-based Cisco is facing sluggish spending by telecom carriers and enterprises on network switches and routers, its main business. In response, the company has been beefing up its wireless security and datacenter businesses.

These rumored cuts, if they turn out to be true, would be a bit of a catch-up the company is doing as it moves away from hardware, Needham & Co analyst Alex Henderson said.

“I do not think that they are going to be done after this,” Henderson said.

The company has already offered many early retirement packages to employees, the CRN report said.

Cisco, which had more than 70,000 employees as of April 30, declined to comment.

The company’s shares were down 1.4 percent at $30.71 on Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

Jefferies raised its price target on the stock to $35 from $30.72 and maintained its “buy” rating.

Up to Tuesday’s close, Cisco’s stock had risen about 15 percent this year, compared with a 10.5 percent increase in the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Hardware & Equipment index.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera, Bhanu Pratap and Supantha Mukherjee and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler, Sunil Nair and Anil D’Silva)

As exports struggle, Israel’s economy faces slower growth

supermarket employee in Israel

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – For decades, Israel’s high growth was driven by exports of oranges, diamonds, pharmaceuticals and software, but the picture is changing due to weak global demand and a strong shekel.

Consumer spending is now a critical growth driver. Businesses fear factories and jobs are at risk if exports, which have declined 10 percentage points over the past decade, fall further.

“We are exporting 80 percent less than our peak” a decade ago, said Joseph Ben-Dor, chief executive of Ben-Dor Fruits & Nurseries on the Jordan River in northern Israel.

Ben-Dor, whose family started the business in 1888, said his main market is Europe, particularly Britain where his largest customers for plums and other fruits are Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Waitrose. He largely blames a strong shekel, rising water, labor and other costs, and government obstacles for lower sales abroad.

Diamond exports, 25-30 percent of Israel’s industrial exports, have slid 30 percent in the past few years, mainly on slower global demand, said Yoram Dvash, president of the Israel Diamond Exchange. Exports to China, a key market, have plunged 70 percent in the last 18 months.

Citing weak global growth that has hurt exports, Israel’s Finance Ministry on Wednesday lowered its economic growth forecast for 2016 to 2.5 percent from 2.8 percent and trimmed estimates through 2019.

The Bank of Israel last month cut its growth estimate from 2.8 percent to 2.4 percent for 2016 and 2.9 percent in 2017.

When exports are hot, Israel’s economy tends to grow between 4 and 5 percent a year. With flat or declining exports in 2014, 2015 and probably again this year, growth is closer to 2.5 percent, well below the average of 4.5 percent from 2004-2011.

“If the trend continues we can witness sustained private consumption growth but we will shift to a lower growth rate,” Nathan Sussman, head of research at the Bank of Israel, said. “Growth will likely be in the 2.5 to 3 percent range if it stays this way.”

With the population growing 2 percent a year, that amounts to per capita growth of just 0.5-1 percent.

NO MAGIC PILL

Ten years ago, net exports accounted for 41 percent of output. Now the ratio is 31 percent. While that tops the 13 percent in the United States and 27 percent for Europe, the decline has strained the economy.

“We need to target growth of 4 to 5 percent so if you want to reach that, you need to turn on the engine of exports,” said Shraga Brosh, president of Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association.

Brosh said the government needed to invest more in research and development and encourage small- and medium-sized factories to become more efficient through tax incentives.

Ohad Cohen, head of the Foreign Trade Administration in the Economy Ministry, said there was only so much the government could do. “We don’t have any magic pill,” he said.

Still, the ministry supports exporters with insurance guarantees and in opening new markets. In recent years, it has doubled the number of offices in Asia to 16. Asia now accounts for 22 percent of Israel’s exports, compared with 31 percent for Europe and 25 percent for the United States.

Israel plans to invest in penetrating markets in Africa and Latin America, Cohen said.

Exports excluding diamonds and start-ups are forecast to fall 1.5 percent this year after a similar decline in 2015. Much of the weakness has come from Europe, in part because the euro has lost 15 percent against the shekel since late 2014.

Another issue is that three companies – Intel, Israel Chemicals (ICL) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – control nearly half of industrial exports. For various reasons they have trimmed output.

Intel is shifting production to a new chip plant in Israel, while falling demand and prices for potash have weighed on ICL. Teva said its exports are “characterized with monthly and seasonal fluctuations” but are not falling on an annual basis.

Concerned by sluggish exports, the central bank continues to buy dollars to try to prevent further shekel strength. It has bought about $70 billion of foreign currency since 2008, but the shekel has not weakened enough to spur an export recovery.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)