Food Stamp Cartoons

U.S. employment growth seen rebounding, wages increasing

U.S. job growth likely rebounded in April and wages increased, pointing to a further tightening in labor market conditions that could pave the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.
Nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 185,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters poll of economists, after a paltry gain of 98,000 in March.
The March gain, the smallest in 10 months, was dismissed as payback after unseasonably mild temperatures in January and February pulled forward hiring in weather-sensitive sectors like construction and leisure and hospitality.
The Labor Department will release its closely watched employment report at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Friday.
Job gains in line with expectations would support the Fed’s contention that the pedestrian 0.7 percent annualized economic growth pace in the first quarter was likely “transitory,” and its optimism that economic activity would expand at a “moderate” pace.
“The labor market continues to tighten, we have on average seen inflation rise over this past year,” said Ray Stone, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, New Jersey. “From the Fed’s perspective, there is probably going to be a policy tightening in June and probably again sometime over the balance of the year.” The Fed on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged and said it expected labor market conditions would “strengthen somewhat further.”
The U.S. central bank raised its overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in March and has forecast two more increases this year.
Average hourly earnings likely rose 0.3 percent last month, partly because of a calendar quirk. While that would keep the year-on-year increase at 2.7 percent, there are signs that wage growth is accelerating as labor market slack diminishes.
A government report last week showed private sector wages recorded their biggest gain in 10 years in the first quarter.
NEAR FULL EMPLOYMENT
The economy needs to create 75,000 to 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Job growth averaged 178,000 per month in the first quarter.
The unemployment rate probably ticked up to 4.6 percent last month from a near 10-year low of 4.5 percent in March. With the labor market expected to hit a level consistent with full employment this year, payroll gains could slow as firms struggle to find qualified workers.
“We have seen a steady increase in anecdotal evidence of a mismatch in the labor force,” said David Donabedian, chief investment officer at CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management in Baltimore. “There are a number of industries that are having trouble hiring enough qualified personnel and those things will eventually lead to upward wage pressures.”
Construction and manufacturing hiring likely led the anticipated acceleration in job growth last month. Retail employment probably declined for a third straight month.
Retailers including J.C. Penney Co Inc , Macy’s Inc and Abercrombie & Fitch have announced thousands of layoffs as they shift toward online sales and scale back on brick-and-mortar operations.
More people likely entered the labor force in April, which could led to a marginal rise in the participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job. The labor force participation rate is at an 11-month high of 63 percent.
“At this point there just aren’t a lot of excess discouraged workers left and dropout rates of unemployed workers are already low, so there’s not a lot of apparent room left to extend the participation rate rebound,” said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York.

U.S. House approves tighter North Korea sanctions

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Thursday to tighten sanctions on North Korea by targeting its shipping industry and companies that do business with the reclusive state.
The vote was 419 to 1.
Supporters said the legislation was intended to send a strong message to North Korea, amid international concern over the escalation of its nuclear program.
The measure would have to be approved by the Senate before it could be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law.
Although legislation addressing North Korea has been introduced in the Senate, there was no immediate word on when or if the Senate might take up a bill.
Any new U.S. sanctions against North Korea would likely affect China, the North’s most important trade partner.
While China has been angered by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, it has signed up for increasingly tough U.N. sanctions against it, and says it is committed to enforcing them.
Asked about the latest U.S. legislation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated that China opposed other countries using their own domestic law to impose unilateral sanctions.
With the situation tense on the Korean Peninsula, all sides need to exercise restraint and not irritate each other to avoid the situation worsening, he said.

Report: Russia says Syria safe zones will be shut for US warplanes

Russian news agencies reported on Friday that U.S. and coalition warplanes will not be allowed to fly over safe zones in Syria.
Putin on Wednesday said he had a “very good” conversation over the phone with Trump, and that his U.S. counterpart agreed to a proposal to establish Syrian safe zones to protect civilians in the war-torn country.
But the White House only confirmed that the two leaders discussed the safe zones, not that there were any agreements.
It is unclear how Russia would enforce this reported no-fly zone for coalition forces.
Reuters reported that countries like Iran and Turkey have agreed on Moscow’s proposal for the “de-escalation zones.” The United Nations also reportedly welcomed the plan.
The proposal presented to the rebels in Astana delineates four zones in Syria where front lines between the government and rebels would be frozen and fighting halted, according to a statement made by rebels. The four include areas in the provinces of Idlib and Homs, the eastern Ghouta suburbs outside Damascus, and an area in the south of the country.
The zones, according to the document received by rebels, would be monitored by international observers and allow for the voluntary return of refugees.
Late Wednesday, Syria's Foreign Ministry said Damascus is "fully backing" the Russian initiative on the four cease-fire areas, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
But Ahmed Ramadan, an opposition representative, told The Associated Press that rebels requested a written answer on a number of questions, including why the cease-fire would only be in effect in the four areas instead of a nationwide truce.

Congress Passes Bill to Repeal and Replace Obamacare

Congress voted to make sweeping changes to the American health care system Thursday. Republicans passed the American Health Care Act to repeal and replace Obamacare with 217 yea votes and 213 no votes.
Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) , one of the few Republicans who voted no to the bill, said, “I don’t think this bill lowers premiums” and he added he would have liked to see a CBO score. The bill still has not been scored. Lance also said he’d like to “see the parties coming together and see cooperation from our Democratic colleagues” in a more bipartisan bill.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, said it was a series of discussions that brought him and other Caucus members from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ vote.
In an last minute switch, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Billy Long (R- MO) told President Trump, they had decided to vote ‘yes’, giving Republicans the final count they needed to go forward with the vote.
After the vote, House Democrats sang “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye”, a song by Steam, on the House floor to Republicans.
A few major main provisions of the bill include:

• Obamacare subsidies for lower income Americans are repealed.
• The bill offers yearly tax credits ($2,000-$4,000 a year) to those without insurance based on age.
• A complete Medicaid funding overhaul. A fixed amount of funding is provided by the federal government. The bill ends open-ended entitlement and puts the program on a budget, cutting $880 billion dollars over 10 years.
• The bill cuts taxes on high income people by taking out a tax that previously charged an additional 3.6%

The bill could still see some major changes when it hits the Senate. However, after it passed Republicans headed to the White House Rose Garden for a celebratory press conference. President Trump said, “premiums will be coming down did will be coming down but very importantly its a great plan and that’s what it’s all about.”