LONDON — Google is laying off 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its workforce, becoming the latest tech company to trim staff as the economic boom that the industry rode during the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who also leads its parent company Alphabet, informed staff Friday at...
Applications for US Unemployment Aid Rose Slightly Last Week
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose only slightly last week with the labor market remaining strong despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to cool the economy and hiring. Applications for unemployment aid for the week ending Dec. 24 climbed 9,000 to 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of...
Walters: Inflated Job Numbers Prop Up Bullet Train
Whenever politicians spend large sums of taxpayer money on pet projects, they invariably overstate their supposed economic benefits, particularly creating oodles of “good-paying jobs.” They all do it, using a deceptive assumption that if one worker works one day on the project, it’s counted as a “job.” Bullet Train Project...
US Jobless Claims Sink. More GOP Governors Move to End Extra Aid in Future.
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 473,000, a new pandemic low and the latest evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs as consumers ramp up spending and more businesses reopen. The decline — the fourth in the past five weeks — coincides with...
Weak Jobs Report Could Spur, Slow Biden’s Huge Money Package
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden's promised economic comeback hit a speed bump Friday with the April jobs report, which found modest job gains of 266,000 that complicated his $4 trillion push on infrastructure, education and children. The employment report failed to show that the U.S. economy was accelerating forward, so...
US Job Growth Slows Sharply in Sign of Hiring Struggles
WASHINGTON — America’s employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery rapidly strengthens. The economic rebound from the pandemic recession has been so fast that many businesses, particularly in the...
Employers Paying Higher Wages to Attract Workers Back, Data Shows
WASHINGTON — Wages and benefits grew quickly for U.S. workers in the first three months of the year, a sign that businesses are starting to offer higher pay to fill newly-opened jobs. U.S. workers’ total compensation rose 0.9% in the January-March quarter, the largest gain in more than 13 years,...
Signs of Recovery as California Adds Jobs for 2nd Month
SACRAMENTO — California employers added 119,600 new jobs in March, the second straight month of growth following a topsy-turvy year of enormous losses and inconsistent gains during an unpredictable pandemic. New unemployment claims, both for traditional employees and independent contractors, are at their lowest levels since the pandemic began more...
Walters : California ‘Job Killer’ List Reignites Old Conflict
Annually, the California Chamber of Commerce chooses a relative handful of the hundreds of bills pending in the Legislature and labels them “job killers” that would impose new regulatory or taxation burdens. The publication of the chamber’s list of measures it considers most onerous has become an important ritual because...
US Job Openings in February Reached Highest Rate on Record
WASHINGTON — The pace of job openings reached the highest level on record in February, a harbinger of healthy hiring and a hopeful sign for those looking for work. The job openings rate — which is the number of available jobs as a percentage of the employed and the open...