NDN Blog

Please join NDN/NPI for a special luncheon next Thursday featuring remarks by Rebecca Blank, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

Deputy Secretary Blank will discuss the importance of manufacturing in boosting U.S. economic growth, job creation and exports and the Administration’s continuing efforts to support American manufacturers as they build things here and sell them everywhere. 

The speech will take place on Thursday, May 10th at the NDN/NPI offices at 729 15th Street, NW.  Lunch will be served at noon, and the speech will begin at 12:15pm.  There will be time for questions from the audience. 

This invitation is non-transferable, and space will be very limited so please RSVP early to reserve your seat.   

I look forward to seeing you on the 10th.  

The long awaited April Jobs numbers are in.

Topline: Employers added 115,000 jobs in April, well under the consensus estimate of 165,000.

But the nation's unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 8.1% - a three year low.

You might ask yourself: How does unemployment drop in this scenario?

The White House says the economy is continuing to heal.

Despite the lukewarm report today, a survey of economists predicts unemployment below 8% by election day - a 2 point drop in unemployment since election day 2010.

The New York Times compares the recovery in the US vs the Eurozone. Guess who comes out on top?

The Economist weighs in on the austerity argument.

Wrapping up Jobs Week, here's a quote on local and state government job loss from Jared Bernstein:

 Last month, local education jobs were down 11,000 and they’re down about 100,000 over the last year.  Next time your friendly politician is jawboning about a) the benefits of austerity and spending cuts, and b) the importance of education, please point out the hypocrisy.

The big jobs number comes out tomorrow morning. Most economists are predicting a pretty tepid report.

First time claims for unemployment decreased by 27,000 from the prior week.

The White House is making youth jobs a priority.

The Obama campaign corrects the record on clean energy jobs.

A White House initiative on consumer energy assessments is gaining steam.

Retailers see positive trends.

When it comes to donations, pro athletes and team owners tend to be on different teams.

As a lead up to Friday's monthly jobs report, a report issued by ADP offers disappointing jobs numbers for private companies in April. Businesses added only 119,00 jobs in April, well short of the number anticipated by economists.

However, as a sign of how muddled things are in this space at the moment, the Gallup Job Creation Index is at a four year high.

A Fitch analysis indicates the stimulus is 'driving the recovery.'

The Obama Campaign goes on offense on clean energy.

The Economic Policy Institute has a great graph that examines growing income inequality. Much more data available here.

In case you missed it, the entire Frontline series on the global financial crisis is available here.

Good news to start off the Notes: Domestic manufacturing had a great April, expanding at the fastest pace in nearly a year. Considering most prognosticators predicted a downturn, this is even better news.

For contextual purposes, the President's Gallup approval rating is the highest since last May. 

One of the key findings of our Next Economy research is the importance of retooling the workforce to be competitive in the 21st century economy. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate some careers that have a good payoff for those willing to invest in mid-career education.

According to Pew, more than 20% of Americans between 25 and 34 live with their parents - the highest level since the 1950s. This impacts the economy in a variety of ways. This also adds some credence to the theory that the dream of the middle class is starting to erode.

Meanwhile, a super-rich guy defends the super-rich in a New York Times magazine piece released today.

Driving the week: It's the last Monday of the month and that means the all important jobs number comes out Friday morning.

Household income and consumer spending both increased in March.

Public job losses continue to stymie the Obama administration.

Gallup says you're going to work longer and retire later.

I'm starting a new feature today called Depressing Eurozone News.

So what exactly would Mitt Romney's economic plan look like? Here's a guess.

Is Congress broken? Some prominent thinkers say yes.

The Economist thinks we might be closing in on housing market stability.

An interesting piece on decision making (or lack thereof) in fragmented metro regions.

Some new ads aren't so truthful about clean energy.

Finally, it's time to put your Blackberry out to pasture.

Economic growth in the first quarter of 2012: 2.2%

This is an expected slight downtick from the previous quarter. However, many economists suspect this growth is sustainable.

The LA Times has an exclusive that details the last days of Lehman Brothers - and the $700 million in bonuses the firm doled out to only 50 employees.

A bipartisan effort in Congress is working to protect 37,000 jobs in the wind industry.

Here's an interesting graph on the geography of unemployment.

In this week's sign of the apocalypse, you can now get a mortgage at CostCo.

Finally, here's Dan Snyder's plan for economic stimulus in the greater Washington DC metro area.

Fed Chair Ben Bernanke argues that the economy is growing, but facing headwinds.

Jobless claims fell slightly last week.

According to an oil industry analyst, if we don't have any refinery outages, gas prices have already peaked for the year.

Banks are pursuing low-income customers and offering them high fee accounts.

A study in Virginia makes the case for renewable energy.

The Freakonomics guys find out that getting paid might kill you.

Wired has a great piece explaining how something called an A/B test is changing business, communications and politics.

We hit a strange milestone this week - America owes a trillion dollars in student loan debt.

That's more debt than we collectively owe to credit cards.

In an extraordinarily weak job market for recent grads, the President went to North Carolina and Colorado to talk about his student loan plan yesterday. President Obama used a unique method of delivering his message.

My advice to new grads: try to get a job at Apple.

At the Next Economy Partnership Project, our research has indicated that Americans believe that clean energy should be one of the pillars of the next economy. So why are global governments subsidizing dirty energy sources over clean energy by a factor of 6 to 1?

Grover Norquist is trying to weaken clean energy standards in states.

Some economists aren't feeling great about the housing recovery.

Consumer confidence held steady in April, meaning consumers are cautiously optimistic about the state of the economy.

Healthcare debt collectors are turning to increasingly reprehensible tactics.

Finally, on an unrelated note, the Washington Post has a fun tool that predicts election results using economic indicators.

And remember to rock the red tonight!

The creation of the Internet sparked the modern economy, helping create the new titans of industry such as Google and Amazon. Clearly, the internet will play a tremendous role in creating the jobs of the future - and a meeting in Dubai this year could have tremendous global ramifications for the future of the internet.

StartupHire lists the top 13 states for startup jobs.

As you know if you've been reading Next Economy Notes, gas prices are dropping. In fact, yesterday marked the third straight week of declines - and according to DOE, the first year-on-year decline since 2009.

Not great news for the housing market as home prices fell in most US cities for the sixth straight month.

The President hits college campuses in Chapel Hill and Boulder today to discuss reducing the cost of student loans.

Set your DVRs: The first of a two part series on the financial collapse debuts on Frontline tonight.

While India is making historic investments in solar power, we're talking about mining asteroids.