Labor

While we await the heavily massaged Initial Claims report from the DOL, moments ago we got the report of actual job layoff announcements tracked by Challenger Gray, and it was quite grim: in the first month of 2016, US-based employers reported 75,114 planned job cuts. Not only was this a 218% increase from the 23,622 in December, it was 42% higher than the same month a year ago, when employers announced 50,041 job cuts.

Following December's miraculous surge in employment (to the biggest improvement in a year), ADP Employment tumbled back a more "normal" 205k in January (stilll beating expectations of 195k). Services dominated (192k vs 13k for goods). Once again manufacturing disappoints with no change in employment as large business hiring slows notably.

ADP employment cyhange dropped notably but still beat expectations...

As ADP catches down to reality comiong from initial claims...

Change in Nonfarm Private Employment

While January's final manufacturing PMI print disappointed (52.4 vs 52.6 expectations) and dropped from its initial print, its still managed a seasonally-adjusted bounce off December's  two year lows.

Two of Europe’s biggest garment retailersH&M and Next, have found Syrian refugee children working in their supplier factories in Turkey, according to a report by a company ethics watchdog. Thousands of Syrian refugees are working illegally in the Turkish garment industry where child labour, low wages and poor conditions are common. Turkey along with  China, Cambodia and Bangladesh, is one of the largest producers of clothing sold on the British high street, supplying labels that include Topshop, Burberry, Marks & Spencer and Asos.

...if you are an immigrant...

As OneNewsNow reports, an attorney representing laid-off Disney workers claims the Fortune 500 company broke federal laws when it replaced them with immigrants.

Attorney Sara Blackwell filed a federal lawsuit this week on behalf of two former tech employees of Disney after the corporation hired H-1B visa recipients from overseas.