private trade

Service Sector Grew in August

The Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, said Tuesday that its index for service companies rose to 53.3 in August from 52.7 in July. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The service sector includes businesses like restaurants, hotels, health care companies and financial service companies. It has grown in all but one month over the last two years. The index reached a five-year high of 59.7 in February.

Still, the rate of growth among service businesses has declined in four of the last six months. High gas prices and scant wage gains have left consumers with less money to spend on services.

The private trade group said its gauge of hiring for service companies fell last month to an 11-month low. That reflected Friday’s grim government report that showed that the economy added no net jobs in August.

“While the modest August bounce in the I.S.M. index for services is good news, it does not change the overall picture of an economy that is slowly unwinding and losing momentum,” said Brian A. Bethune, an economics professor at Amherst College.

Retail and wholesale trade, transportation services and hotels all showed strength in August, according to the report. Educational service companies, recreation and entertainment firms, and health care, finance and insurance businesses all reported declines.

Last week, I.S.M. said its manufacturing index fell in August to 50.6, barely above the 50 threshold that separates contraction from growth.

The nation’s economy expanded in the first six months of the year at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent — the slowest growth since the recession officially ended two years ago.

Since then, consumer and business confidence have been hurt by a spate of bad economic news: lawmakers in Washington fought over raising the federal borrowing limit, Standard Poor’s downgraded its rating on long-term United States debt, the debt crisis in Europe worsened and the stock market tumbled in late July and early August. The Dow is nearly 14 percent lower than its close on July 21.

President Obama will offer a plan to increase job growth during an address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday.

Still, the president is unlikely to win support for any stimulus spending from Congressional Republicans, who say the president’s economic policies have failed. They say they want further spending cuts and less government regulation.

The economy needs to add 250,000 jobs a month to make a major dent in the unemployment rate, which has been above 9 percent in all but two months since May 2009.

Many economists believe that the economy will grow only 2 percent in the second half of this year, far below the pace needed to generate significant job gains.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=952e9ce8c0e8812b0306cd327ba60b59

Jobless Claims Last Week Hit 8-Month High

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications rose by 43,000, to 474,000, in the week ended April 30, the third increase in four weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fourth consecutive week to 431,250.

Applications near 375,000 are typically consistent with sustainable job growth. Weekly applications peaked during the recession at 659,000.

Rising unemployment applications and other weak economic data this week have prompted some analysts to worry that higher fuel prices might be causing employers to slow hiring.

The government will release its April jobs report on Friday. Economists are projecting that the economy probably added 185,000 jobs in April and that the unemployment rate might remain at 8.8 percent, but some are now saying the numbers of added jobs could be lower.

Other factors also contributed to the increase in claims, a department spokesman said. Oregon started its own extended unemployment benefit program, which caused an increase in overall applications in the state for unemployment benefits. And auto-related layoffs rose, as some companies shut down or slowed production because of shortages of parts after the earthquake in Japan.

The sharp rise in claims in recent weeks has increased concerns that higher gasoline and food prices are cutting into consumer spending and slowing the economy. Businesses are also facing higher costs for raw materials, which reduce profit margins. They might be cutting hiring as a cost-saving measure.

Other recent data have also pointed to a weaker job market. A private trade group said Wednesday that a measure of employment growth in the service sector, which employs 90 percent of the work force, slowed for a second month. The report, by the Institute for Supply Management, still showed that employment rose, but at the slowest pace in seven months.

In another report, American companies squeezed more work out of their staffs in the first three months, but the gain in productivity was much slower than the previous three months.

The Labor Department said productivity rose at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the January-March period, compared to a 2.9 percent increase in the previous quarter.

A slowdown in productivity growth is bad for the economy if it persists for a long period. But it can be good in the short term when unemployment is high, because it signals that companies must hire more workers to make further gains.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=67b6d1f9f0dfba282872c39fac147e94

Service Sector Grew in August

Jobless Claims Last Week Hit 8-Month High

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