From 7. 25. The plan was unveiled in the president s state of the Union Address last night. And today it rekindled a nationwide debate of whether the measure would help or hurt workers and businesses, and the economy. Darren gersh reports. Reporter supporters of a higher minimum wage increase point to studies showing little impact on employment after the pay at the bottom of the job market goes up. One reason is that employers may actually come out ahead when they are forced to pay workers more. Productivity and Job Satisfaction improve and turnover falls. So employers get to reap the benefits of lower hiring and firing costs, lower turnover costs. Hiring and firing is actually very expensive to companies, so if you pay people a little higher wage, they have more job stability. Thats actually good for everyone. Reporter of course, were talking about economics, which means there are other studies that show a minimum wage hike is most likely to hurt those who need it most. Critics point
This abbreviated session. This is historical tendency in terms of the period between thanksgiving and december 3rd. Most of the time we are higher in the markets and were seeing that play out so far in future. Look at the picture in europe. A surprise increase in german Business Confidence there really helping to push the indices higher across the board with the exception of spain which is down by. 2 of 1 . It is the most wonderful time of the year for the retailers. Millions of shoppers are hitting the malls this black friday looking for door buster deals. A number of Stores Including walmart, target and toys r us upping the ante with thanksgiving night openings. 147 Million People will hit the malls and Stores Friday through saturday slightly below last years levels. Unbelievable number of people who started lining up so early. I mean, a week ago. Those people we saw at best buy with the tents. We assume they got whatever they were after. I certainly do. I certainly do. There were un
So a scary headline number isnt as bad as it seems when you look underneath. Reporter and thats what economists say Federal Reserve policy makers did. After studying the economy for two days, chairman ben bernanke and his colleagues issued what most called a no news statement. The fed says it will keep Interest Rates near zero and plans to keep buying bonds in order to keep Interest Rates low. Todays g. D. P. Report didnt change that plan. What the fed is trying to do is generate stronger labor Market Growth and labor Market Performance and we dont really have any data on that yet. So we dont have the employment report yet, so we think it is just status quo for the fed at this time. Reporter well, almost status quo. The fed continues to watch congress closely for clues about whether deep, automatic federal spending cuts will take effect in a month or congress will decide to close down parts of the government as republicans and democrats battle over the budget. I think the fed is very c
So a scary headline number isnt as bad as it seems when you look underneath. Reporter and thats what economists say Federal Reserve policy makers did. After studying the economy for two days, chairman ben bernanke and his colleagues issued what most called a no news statement. The fed says it will keep Interest Rates near zero and plans to keep buying bonds in order to keep Interest Rates low. Todays g. D. P. Report didnt change that plan. What the fed is trying to do is generate stronger labor Market Growth and labor Market Performance and we dont really have any data on that yet. So we dont have the employment report yet, so we think it is just status quo for the fed at this time. Reporter well, almost status quo. The fed continues to watch congress closely for clues about whether deep, automatic federal spending cuts will take effect in a month or congress will decide to close down parts of the government as republicans and democrats battle over the budget. I think the fed is very c
Today came on a day of mixed reports about the u. S. Economy. On the jobs front, a strong payrolls report showed private employers added 192,000 jobs in january, much more than economists expected. But the Commerce Department said economic growth, contracted in the last three months of 2012. The g. D. P. Shrank by 0. 1 the first time thats happened since the financial crisis began. The fed said in its policy Statement Today that it continues to see Downside Risks to the economy. Unemployment is still elevated. But household and business spending advanced. Susie darren gersh begins our coverage with that weak reading on the economy. Reporter last quarter, defense spending fell off the fiscal cliff. As lawmakers bickered, manufacturers who make things for the pentagon cut back production sharply defense spending fell 22 in the latest g. D. P. Report, tipping the economy into the red. Certainly manufacturers are pulling back and i think this is a bit of a wake up call that these cuts are