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Experts Predict Economic Expansion for 2015 and 2016

Experts predict a few more strong laps around this race track we call our economy. Fifty forecasting experts with the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) believe the U.S. economy will grow at a rapid pace over the next two years. They suspect Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase on average 3.1% in 2015 and 2.9% in 2016.   Few can complain about the potential win-win situation brewing that will reward businesses with higher sales and better employment opportunities for job seekers. Experts believe the economy will improve to a point where unemployment dips under 5% by the end of 2016. The advantages of polling experts can help gauge the overall likelihood of success for the nation. These economic gurus have become successful in their fields and have opinions on economic growth and development. Funneling their opinions into useful metrics helps see that the average opinion is positive. Each expert sifts the questionnaire information through their personal

Why are American’s Quitting Their Jobs?

According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 57.5% of people who left their jobs did so under their own free will. A total of 5.03 million employees were added which boosted the hiring rate to 3.6%. At the same time 2.75 million people resigned in September with a quit rate of 2%. Make no mistake, the job market is heating up and employees are finding options that were not available to them a few years ago. When the economy is poor and employment prospects are low employees naturally stay in their jobs for fear that they will not be successful in securing new employment. Likewise, there may be an abundance of people seeking the same position which raises the stakes when attempting to jump ship. It is often wiser to stay where you are at until things get better. At present the amount of people seeking the same position are 2 to 1. Those are pretty good odds for people who want to beat out the competition. When those odds are 3 or 4 to 1 that makes uncertainty higher. Wh

Unemployment Lowers and Opportunity Rises-At least for Some

October was a great month for the unemployment rate. According to government data, 214,000 jobs were added last month and unemployment moved down to 5.8%. This is great news for those who are actively seeking employment and are counted in the rankings. Those in the lowest wage rungs haven’t seen much improvement in wages.  As unemployment numbers decline it naturally soaks up the slack in the labor market. Higher skilled workers usually get the cream puff jobs while lower skilled workers will still be picking up crumbs. Typically higher skilled workers find employment faster because they are needed in penetrating growth sectors of society that rely heavily on education and specialized skills.  Lower wage service jobs and part-timers will be stuck in lower wages until slack in the market is tighten to create demand-not so easy in a global world. Some lower wage workers may find new training opportunities that help them move into higher paying employment but others may simpl

Feds Announce the End to the Era of Quantitative Easing

The Federal Reserve announced a discontinuing of the controversial bond buying program at the end of October this year. They will keep the short-term rates around 0 for the near future.   To this point, the risk to inflation is relatively low and the economy has shown mixed signals of strength in the last year or so. The Federal Reserve seeks to support the   3% projected national growth rate while not undercutting gains in the employment market.  Lower Unemployment and Skepticism :  Unemployment dropped to 5.9% but wages have not risen to provide an income boost. Most Americans are still skeptical of the economy and feel that improvements will occur sometime next year. They are not sure when next year but “sometime” seems to be the target spot. It is skepticism that is a result of not seeing high paying jobs and wage increases. Bond Purchases :  The bond purchases were controversial from the beginning but were seen as one avenue of encouraging development out of t