AG 2011 01 18 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UPDATE The Unemployment Rate increased slightly in November: • Nonfarm payroll employment changed little ( +39,000) in November, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 %, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs over the month, while employment fell in retail trade. Since December 2009, total payroll employment has increased by an average of 86,000 per month. The number of long -term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and more) was little changed at 6.3 million and accounted for 41.9 percent of the unemployed in November. Gross Domestic Product increased during P Quarter: • Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2010, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.7 percent. • The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, and federal government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. Manufacturer's Shipments, Inventories and Orders: • Following three consecutive monthly increases, new orders for manufactured goods in October decreased $3.6 billion or 0.9 percent to $429.1 billion according to the U.S. Census Bureau. • Shipments are up for the second month, increasing $1.5 billion or 0.3 percent to $421 billion. • Inventories, up nine of the last ten months, increased $4.7 billion or 0.8 percent to $538.2 billion. Personal Income & Consumer Spending: • Real disposable income decreased 0.3 percent in October, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in September. Real Personal Consumer Expenditures increased 0.3 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in September. Real disposable income and expenditures are adjusted for inflation to better reflect actual changes in income and spending. For comparison, nominal personal income increased 0.5 percent in October. Housing: • Sales of new single - family houses in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 283,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 8.1 percent below the revised September rate of 308,000 and is 28.5 percent below the October 2009 estimate of 396,000. • Single - family housing starts in October 2010 were 436,000, down 1.1% from the prior month. Single - family building permits were 406,000, up 1.0% from the September figure of 402,000. If you would like to be added to the distribution list please contact: Jared Wiener, Director of Economic Analysis, PRSP (jwiener @nccommerce.com, 715 -4199) Michael Haley, Policy Director, PRSP (mhaley @nccommerce.com, 715 -6373) Report Author: Derek Ramirez - Economist Additional Report Contributors: Meihui Bodane and Anna Lea - Market Research Analysts Previous Monthly Overviews are available on Commerce's website by clicking here or at the link below: http:// www. nccommerce. com/ en/ AboutDOC/ PublicationsReports/ EconomicDevelopmentReports /MonthlyOverview. htm Policy, Research & Strategic Planning; November n aRnberl 1 -1