One of the strongest labor markets in US history just ended 2024 with a bang
CNN
The US economy closed out 2024 with another month of massive job growth, adding 256,000 positions in December.
The US economy closed out 2024 with another month of massive job growth, adding 256,000 positions in December. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, wrapping up a year that marked a return to pre-pandemic norms, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. While the final jobs report for 2024 underscores how the US labor market has turned the corner since the pandemic, there’s plenty of uncertainty as to what 2025 could bring for the trajectory of the labor market — in part because of President-elect Donald Trump’s potential policy changes involving trade, immigration, taxes and the federal workforce. Including December’s gains, which are subject to revision, the economy added about 2.2 million jobs in 2024, an average of 186,000 jobs per month. That’s in line with annual totals from 2017 to 2019 but marks a slowdown from the blowout gains seen during the pandemic recovery during the prior years. The US has now added jobs for 48 months in a row, tying the second-longest period of employment expansion on record. Economists were expecting a net gain of 153,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to stay at 4.2%, according to FactSet.
Oil and natural gas prices spiked Thursday, as Iran ramped up strikes on energy infrastructure across the Middle East and attacked one of the world’s most important liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Qatar.
In normal times, the Federal Reserve would more or less ignore an oil price shock like the one we’re in now.
Property brokerage Compass on Wednesday dropped its lawsuit against Zillow, ending a legal clash over how home listings can be marketed online.
Fed officials didn’t make any rate moves at their March meeting and released an updated forecast for the path of the American economy as the war in Iran stretches on.
Fed officials are set to announce their latest rate decision Wednesday afternoon, along with a new forecast for the path of the American economy as the war in Iran stretches on.
“The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history,” one of the world’s top democracy researchers says in a new report.
Oil prices held steady Wednesday after Iraq clinched a deal to resume some crude exports via Turkey. It’s not a ton of oil, but it’s what amounts for good news these days as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked.
The US-Israeli war with Iran, now stretching into its third week, is dashing hopes that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates at all this year.
A federal judge says the Trump administration must let more than 1,000 sidelined Voice of America employees return to work by next week.
Former judges side with Anthropic and raise concerns about Pentagon’s use of supply chain risk label
Nearly 150 retired federal and state judges have filed an amicus brief on Tuesday supporting AI company Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Trump administration for designating it a “supply chain risk,” CNN has learned.
Attacks on commercial ships in the Middle East this month have all but closed the vital Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. One of the few alternative routes for oil exports from the region goes through the Red Sea. But now even that lifeline is in danger.
When Mona Panjwani opened One40 Rooftop, a swanky restaurant in lower Manhattan last year, one of the biggest dilemmas besides the menu was choosing the reservation platform.
What could get more expensive because of the war in Iran?