YCLOAK

New data show the U.S. job market becoming a bit stronger, while credit card costs are increasing for American consumers.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department says the number of newly-laid off workers signing up for assistance fell 8,000 last week to a nationwide total of 237,000. Experts say any level below 300,000 indicates strong demand for workers and a healthy job market.  Jobless claims have been under this benchmark now for well over two years, the longest streak since 1970.

On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank cited the improving job market as evidence that the economy no longer needs the boost it has been receiving from ultra-low interest rates. The Federal Reserve increased the key interest rate by a quarter of a percent. It is the latest in a series of gradual increases intended to bring interest rates closer to the average rates seen over the past few decades.

While economists say the increases are a vote of confidence in the economy, higher rates also raise costs for consumers who have run up credit card bills. The business group WalletHub says U.S. consumer credit card debt will likely exceed $1 trillion this year, a record high. The company says that means a quarter of a percentage point interest rate hike will cost consumers an extra $1.5 billion this year.

Wednesday’s action is the latest of several rate increases, and if all the higher costs are tallied, the bill for consumers will be $6 billion more this year than it would have been in the past.
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The U.S. Senate voted 98-2 Thursday to approve sweeping sanctions against Russia and make it harder for President Donald Trump to ease punitive measures against Moscow.

“We have no time to waste,” said Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. “The United States of America needs to send a strong message to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy.”

“We must not allow this kind of interference in our elections become a normal process,” said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Adopted overwhelmingly as an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill, the measure targets Russia’s cyber espionage entities, energy sector, financial interests, and the flow of Russian weaponry to war zones like Syria.

“It expands the list of where sanctions can apply to the energy projects and foreign financial institutions,” said Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It provides for actors undermining cyber security being subject to sanctions. It provides sanctions against suppliers of Russian arms to Syria. It’s comprehensive.”

The measure also asserts a role for Congress if the White House opts to ease any sanctions against Moscow.

“The president can’t remove a sanction until he’s given Congress notice and an opportunity to review,” Cardin said. “We can have congressional hearings, we can put a spotlight on it. And then we have an expedited process where we could reject the president’s decision to give relief. And all during that process, the sanctions remain in place.”

The Trump administration reportedly is weighing the return of Russian compounds on U.S. soil seized by the Obama administration, and the president has repeatedly expressed a desire for better relations with Moscow while downplaying the impact of Russia’s cyber activities.

“It’s particularly significant that a bipartisan coalition is seeking to reestablish Congress, not the president, as the final arbiter of sanctions relief,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.

McCain described existing punitive measures against Russia as “modest” and “reversible at the discretion of the president.”

“We must take our own side in this fight, not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans,” McCain said.

The White House has not said if Trump would sign or veto the legislation, which would have to be passed by the House of Representatives before it could go to the president‘s desk. Testifying this week on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged the need to take action against Russia but warned against measures that would cut off dialogue with Moscow.

“We would ask for the flexibility to turn the heat up when we need to, but also to ensure that we have the ability to maintain a constructive dialogue,” Tillerson said.

The underlying bill imposed new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program and support for international terrorism. Lawmakers of both parties stressed the measures in no way target Iran’s nuclear program or the landmark international nuclear accord with Tehran.

“We see destabilizing act after destabilizing act [by Iran], from missile launches to arms transfers to terrorist training to illicit financial activities to targeting Navy ships and detaining American citizens,” said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee.

“It’s past time for us to take steps to protect the interests of the United States and our allies. This bill is the first time Congress has come together since the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, to do just that,” Corker added.

“This bill will impose sanctions on Iran for its non-nuclear violations,“ Cardin said. “The debate we have here is on the non-nuclear activities of Iran that violate international norms and international agreements.”

 
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President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered more money and a bigger role for private companies in designing apprenticeship programs meant to fill some of the 6 million open jobs in the U.S.

 

Trump signed an executive order to roughly double to $200 million the taxpayer money spent on learn-to-earn programs. The money would come from existing job training programs. The executive order would leave it to industry to design apprenticeships under broad standards to be set by the Labor Department.

 

“We’re training people to have great jobs and high paying jobs,” Trump said at a White House ceremony. “We’re here today to celebrate the dignity of work and the greatness of the American worker.”

 

Trump is directing the government to review and streamline some 43 workforce programs across 13 agencies. Senior administration officials have said Trump was reluctant to spend more federal funds on apprenticeships, so the boost would come from existing money, perhaps from the streamlining process. The officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity to preview Trump’s order.

 

Companies have long complained that they can’t find trained people to fill highly technical jobs, and apprenticeship programs have sprung up around the country. Companies now have to register with the Labor Department and adhere to government guidelines.

 

There are about 500,000 apprenticeship positions in the U.S.

 

Trump had campaigned on creating jobs. The executive order addresses the nation’s “skills gap” that have left millions of open jobs unfilled. Apprenticeships would give students a way to learn skills without the crippling debt of four-year colleges, and expand those opportunities to women, minorities and other populations underrepresented among the nation’s roughly 505,000 apprentices.

 

Trump accepted a challenge earlier this year from a CEO to create 5 million new apprenticeships.

 

The Trump administration has said there’s a need that can be met with a change in the American attitude toward vocational education and apprenticeships. A November 2016 report by former president Barack Obama’s Commerce Department found that “apprenticeships are not fully understood in the United States, especially” by employers, who tend to use apprentices for a few, hard-to-fill positions but not as widely as they could.

 

The shortages for specifically trained workers cut across multiple job sectors, from construction trades to agriculture, manufacturing, information technology and health care.

 

Critics say Trump can’t be promoting apprenticeships while he proposes cutting federal job training funding by as much as 40 percent – from $2.7 billion to $1.6 billion. There also are questions about oversight of apprenticeship programs that begin and operate almost completely under the control of the company.

 

Apprenticeships are few and far between. Of the 146 million jobs in the United States, about 0.35 percent – or slightly more than a half-million – were filled by active apprentices in 2016. Filling millions more jobs through apprenticeships would require the government to massively ramp up its efforts.

 

“Scaling is the big issue,” said Robert Lerman, a fellow at the Urban Institute.

 

Another complication: only about half of apprentices finish their multi-year programs. Fewer than 50,000 people – including 11,104 in the military – completed their apprenticeships in 2016, according to Labor Department.

 

Trump’s resume includes the hit television show, “The Apprentice.”
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The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday amid concerns about sluggish growth, a slowdown in consumer spending and low inflation. But the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve says the one-quarter of 1 percent increase in the federal funds rate demonstrates the committee’s confidence in the overall health of the U.S. economy. Mil Arcega has more.
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The real estate firm owned by the family of Jared Kushner has withdrawn a request for a big tax break for one its buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey, the latest setback for the company in the area.

 

The Kushner Cos. sent a letter withdrawing its application for a 30-year break from city taxes for a planned two-tower project in the struggling Journal Square section of the city, Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said Wednesday. Opponents of the tax breaks marched downtown earlier this year and the city’s mayor recently came out against the Kushner request.

 

Jared Kushner was CEO of the family company before stepping down to become a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

Committed to area

 

Kushner Cos. spokesman James Yolles said the company is committed to the “much-needed investment” in that area of the city.

 

The loss of the tax break is the latest blow for the company in a city where it is major real estate developer.

 

The 79-story building, One Journal Square, gained attention last month after Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, mentioned her brother in a presentation in Beijing where she had hoped to attract Chinese investors in the building. Marketing material noted the “celebrity status” of her family.

 

Government ethics experts blasted the family for what they said was an attempt to profit off Jared Kushner’s position in Washington, and the Kushner Cos. canceled upcoming investor presentations in the country.

 

The company said Meyer wasn’t trying to use her White House ties to attract investors.

EB-5 visa program

 

The Kushner family is seeking 300 wealthy Chinese to invest a total of $150 million in One Journal Square. The family was trying to raise money through the EB-5 visa program that grants temporary U.S. residency to wealthy foreigners in exchange for investments of at least $500,000 in certain U.S. projects

 

The company also is in danger of losing another tax break for the building. The shared office space firm WeWork recently pulled out as anchor tenant. That has put in doubt a state tax break tied to WeWork.

 

Another project is off, too. The Kushner Cos. once considered bidding to develop a 95-acre industrial site along the Hackensack River in the city for housing, called Bayfront. Last month, it was revealed the family had withdrawn from those plans last year.

 

The Kusnher Cos. has said politics had nothing to do with its decision to withdraw from Bayfront, and that “economics of the deal” drove the move.

 

As for One Journal Square, company spokesman Yolles said the project will provide 4,000 construction jobs and $180 million in tax revenue for the city over 30 years.

Tax breaks an issue

 

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat, is running for re-election this fall, and tax breaks to developers have become a major issue.

 

Unlike neighboring Hoboken, Jersey City has granted dozens of tax breaks in recent years. Fulop had campaigned to reform the practice, but critics say he has done little.

 

Another Kushner property in the city overlooking the Hudson River got a five-year tax break soon after Fulop was elected mayor. That 50-story building has licensed the Trump name and is called Trump Bay Street. The building was also partly financed with EB-5 visa money from abroad.

 

The Kushner family owns or manages 20,000 apartments, 13 million square feet of office space and industrial properties in several states, including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois. 
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A new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) says getting more women into the world labor market would add trillions of dollars to the global economy and boost tax revenues. 

According to the report, the ILO World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2017, just more than 49 percent of women globally are in the labor force, a rate nearly 27 percent lower than that for men.

The ILO is calling for a narrowing of the gender gap, which it says is widespread, persistent and substantial, in the world of work. But unfortunately, ILO says, this situation is expected to remain unchanged in 2018.

G-20 commitment

Deborah Greenfield, ILO deputy director for policy, says the Group of 20 (G-20) leaders have committed themselves to reducing the gender gap in work participation rates between men and women by 25 percent by the year 2025.

Greenfield says huge benefits would accrue to women, society and the economy if this goal is met.

“This would have the potential to add $5.8 trillion, measured in U.S. dollars, to the global economy,” Greenfield said. “This could also unlock large potential tax revenues. We estimate roughly $1.5 trillion globally, most of it in emerging and developed countries.”

Areas that would benefit most

The report says North Africa, the Arab states and southern Asia have the lowest number of women in paid labor. It says these regions would benefit most from narrowing the gaps, which exceed 50 percentage points, in participation rates between men and women.

The ILO says society must change its attitudes toward the role of women in the world of work and not fall back on the excuse that it is unacceptable for a woman to have a paid job.
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The sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states on Qatar have been a blessing for Mohammed Kuwari and his al-Rawa brand of yoghurt. With competing Saudi products off the shelves, his business is booming.

“Our sales doubled! There’s lots of production as you can see and we have a big share in the market now,” said the 30-year-old dairy factory owner.

Previously he struggled to compete against products trucked in from Saudi firms like the Middle East’s biggest dairy, Almarai.

But last week Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain imposed an economic and diplomatic boycott on Qatar, accusing the small Gulf state of funding terrorism and cosying up to their enemy Iran, which Qatar denies.

The measures have disrupted imports in Qatar, which buys most of its food from the neighbors that have ostracized it.

Change in trading patterns?

Qatar’s own mostly small consumer businesses say they are finding new suppliers, which could alter established trading patterns in the Gulf.

Plastic and cardboard that Kuwari’s company uses to make packaging are stuck in containers in Dubai, he said.

“We were stunned at first. Our supply of raw materials was completely cut off,” said Kuwari. “But we took action.”

Kuwari says he will terminate contracts for raw materials from the Dubai-based conglomerate JRD international worth 30 million riyals ($8.21 million) a year. Instead he is forging deals with Turkish, Indian and Chinese companies to secure future supplies that will be shipped to Qatar via ports in Oman and Kuwait.

Pulling plug on contracts

Qatar typically imports perishable goods through its land link with Saudi Arabia. Millions of dollars of other goods and materials also come every month via Dubai’s Jebel Ali port which serves as a major re-export hub for the Gulf.

Businesses in Qatar say they are pulling the plug on UAE and Saudi contracts, and don’t expect to resume them even if the diplomatic storm blows over.

“We are not working with them again. They didn’t honor their agreements. Our products are being held up there,” said Ahmed al-Khalaf, chairman of International Projects Development Co. and owner of a Qatari meat processing plant that imports materials from the UAE.

“We may not have many factories in Qatar but we have the money to buy from other sources.”

Richest country

Qatar is the world’s richest country per capita, with just 2.7 million residents and income from the world’s biggest exports of liquefied natural gas. Nearly 90 percent of its population are foreign guest workers, mostly from South Asia or poorer countries in the Middle East.

Dubai offers lower costs and shorter shipping times than many other ports in the Middle East. But Oman’s Sohar port has been trying to compete by expanding its capacity. Business from Qatar could help that effort.

On Monday, Qatar launched two new shipping services to Omani ports as the gas-rich country seeks to secure food supplies closed off by the Saudi-led boycott.

 
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Wind and solar accounted for more than 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation for the first time in March, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Wind and solar power capacity has been growing in the United States, accounting for an average of up to 7 percent of electricity in 2016.

Texas, a wind power giant, accounted for the largest total amount of wind and solar electricity generation in 2016, according to the EIA.

Meanwhile, Iowa ranked as the state with the highest share of renewable energy in its electricity mix, with 37 percent of electricity generation from wind and solar.

A separate report released on Wednesday by Deloitte found that consumer and business preference will continue to drive demand for renewable energy.

The report found that 61 percent of customers wanted a certain percentage of electricity to come from renewable energy.

 

 
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Top officials of the U.S. central bank raised the benchmark interest rate slightly on Wednesday, as the recovering economy no longer seems to need quite as much of the boost it gets from ultra-low rates.

The Federal Reserve raised its short-term rate a quarter of a percent, to a range between one and 1.25 percent.  

To cope with the recession that started in 2007, the Fed cut interest rates nearly to zero, a record low, in a bid to cut the cost of borrowing and encourage economic activity and cut unemployment.  

With the jobless rate cut from 10 percent to just 4.3 percent recently, the recovering economy no longer needs so much help from low interest rates.  Wednesday’s action is just the latest in a gradual series of rate hikes that are moving interest rates back toward the rates usually seen over the past few decades.  

Officials worry that keeping rates too low for too long could spark a burst of inflation that could hurt the economy. Fed officials have been trying to get inflation to rise to a low but manageable rate of about two percent.  The inflation rate remains below this target.  

Fed officials also said they would reduce the central bank’s huge holding of bonds and other securities later this year. During the recession, the Fed purchased $4.3 trillion worth of financial products in a complex bid to further boost growth by cutting long-term rates. The plan calls for gradually reducing these holdings in ways that do not disrupt markets.  

The Fed’s leaders say they expect the world’s largest economy to grow at a 2.2 percent annual rate this year, and expand a bit more slowly in 2018 and 2019. They predict a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, and a slight rise for the inflation rate.
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China’s three big Internet-driven companies, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, are set to influence a vast section of the country’s business because they control data concerning the consumer and social behavior of millions of people. The awesome power comes from the government’s drive to develop a “big data” industry, which is thriving in China.

Several other players, including utilities like phone companies and retail chains, are also trying to dip into the newly discovered pot of money from buyers who need information to understand buying preferences of potential customers, and design their products and strategies in line with the data flows.

“It [big data] is an improvement to do [a] better job, but unfortunately your [consumer’s] lifeline is more and more dependent on these big three guys,” said Chiang Jeongwen, a professor of marketing at the China Europe International Business School.

Recent studies have shown that nearly 90 percent of China’s 731 million online users have made at least one online purchase, often involving the use of Baidu’s search facilities, e-commerce sites and third-party transactions using mobile phone apps.

Predicting trends

“People are buying things and using their third party payment systems. [That] information [is] also being captured by Tencent and Alibaba. That is huge because now they know both offline and online information of consumers,” said Chiang.

These companies own a wide range of businesses that makes it possible for them to gather both online and offline data that is generated when a customer uses a phone app to make payments at a physical shop.

Alibaba owns Alipay while Tencent runs the highly popular WeChat service which offers mobile payment options. Baidu is China’s biggest internet search engine and holds the kind of influence that Google does in other countries.

“They have diversified the services [that] they offer. Alibaba, they are big in e-commerce. The kind of data they generate comes from anything ranging from what you buy online to your bill payments, travel bookings you do with, for example, the Alipay app,” said Shazeda Ahmed, visiting academic in the technology and economics division of Mercator Institute of Chinese Studies.

“People use the same platforms to make purchases, so there is a sense of extreme power in this situation because you can do all of these on one platform,” she explained.

These companies have a very strong predictive power that comes from a vast store of historical data and real-time data that they are collecting from users of different services. “They kind of able to anticipate the next thing a user might want before the user himself is aware of it,” she said.

Trading in data

The expansion of big data has given rise to serious concerns about the privacy of millions of people, who reveal both their transaction information and facets of social behavior through social media.

China has seen the rise of a black market for data. Data sellers offer a wide range of data on a targeted person, business or community by cracking into official databases and privately run sites.

But Chinese officials insist the government has put in place strong safeguards.

“There is a very strong firewall built before the big data center was established,” Zhang Bin, a senior official of the main big data center established by the Chinese government in Guiyang city. “We also made strict policy to control the data leaks from the government, so these are the two ways to protect information not to be leaked to the private companies for illegal use.”

The government has established a big data exchange center in Guiyang to encourage private and state-run companies to trade in data in a transparent manner, and help the industry find out the real price of the information. The center has come in for some praise by foreign companies who visited it but some questions remain unanswered.

“Having a legitimate place to trade data is an idea, but how does an exchange ensure that the data controllers has to requisite rights to sell data and it’s not breach of privacy?” Gagan Sabharwal, director of the National Association of Software and Service Companies in India, said after a recent visit.
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