Labor

After jumping heroically in May, ADP reported a disappointing 158k employment gain in June (188k exp.) and revised May's exuberance notably lower (253k to 230k). While 'soft' survey data suggests empoloyment should be resurging, the hard numbers are disappointing again...

Medium-sized firms dominated the gains (+91k vs Small firms 17k and Large firms +50k).

Perhaps most notable for President Trump is that all 158k of the gains came in the Service-Producing sector of the economy - Goods-Producing Sector gained zero jobs.

As we’ve reported time and time again, once one looks past the headlines extolling the labor market "recovery" in the US, the details of these reports paint a much more discouraging picture. One need only look to the establishment survey – one of two measures used to calculate the Labor Department's monthly jobs figures – which shows that full-time jobs with benefits are increasingly being supplanted by low-paying part-time jobs.

Tepid wage growth has been frustrating Americans for years. But if trends in China’s manufacturing sector have any bearing on the US, there’s an upside to stagnant pay: Workers get to keep their jobs – for now, at least.

A week ago, we reported on a study from the University of Washington that exposed how the city of Seattle’s progressive minimum wage increases, which began in 2015, are – contrary to the hopes of misguided liberals – actually crushing the city’s poor.

Authored by Daniel Ameduri via FutureMoneyTrends.com,

As I sat down to enjoy some smoked salmon at a recent BBQ I attended, I ended up at a table with two recent high school graduates.

To my disappointment, when I asked them what their plans were for the summer and beyond, both said they were heading to college.

With student loans and a wasteful four years in front of them, I couldn’t help but ask why.

Is there really anything that takes 4 to 8 years to learn or become an expert in?