January 2012

Retail Sales for December 2011 Increase Only 0.1%, Give Lump of Coal to Wall Street

December 2011 Retail Sales increased 0.1%. Minus autos & parts retail sales dropped -0.2%. November retail sales were revised up to 0.4% from 0.2%. Retail sales are up 6.5% from the same time last year. Electronics and Appliance stores plunged -3.9% during December, the holiday season. Gas sales dropped -1.6%. Retail sales are reported by dollars, not by volume, so dropping prices often reports as a decline in sales.

Job JOLTS - There are 4.22 Official Unemployed Per Job Opening in November 2011

JOLTS stands for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The November 2011 statistics show there were 4.22 official unemployed people hunting for a job to every position available*. There were 3,161,000 job openings for November 2011, a decrease of -1.95%, from the previous month of 3,224,000.

Saturday Reads Around the Internets - It Pays to Do Your Homework

shocknews Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

 

Whole Foods - Made in China

Spending $8 bucks a pound for organic grapes? Think again. This video report shows Grocery chain Whole Foods so called organic foods are actually imported from China. Check out what happens with organic inspection and certification when food is imported.

People Would Could Only Get Part-Time Jobs Decreased -4.38% in December 2011

December's unemployment report had a little indicator of better news. A recession indicator, those forced into part-time hours due to slack economic conditions just plummeted. Overall, people being forced into part-time jobs declined by 371,000 in a month, to a tally of 8,098,000 people.

Unemployment 8.5% for December 2011 - 200,000 Jobs

The December 2011 monthly unemployment figures show the official unemployment rate dropped -0.2 percentage points to 8.5% and the total jobs gained were 200,000. Total private jobs came in at 212,000. Government jobs dropped -12,000. Temporary jobs also dropped -7,500. All other major job categories had payroll gains. Manufacturing gained a much needed 23,000 jobs.

 

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