Economy

Why are Americans unhappy about Biden's economy? – MSNBC

Published

8 months ago

February 20, 2024

We keep hearing people say they don’t “feel good about the economy,” and they don’t seem too hopeful for the future. Recent polling from NBC News found only 24% of registered voters believe the economy will get better over the next year. Yet we can point to one economic statistic after another that shows things really are good today, even after last week’s disappointing inflation report. Unemployment has been at or below 4% for more than two years, something we haven’t seen in decades. And despite near universal fears last year of a pending recession, the U.S. economy actually grew 3.1%. Compared to the rest of the world, America is doing great.

But if you’re like a lot of people, those numbers don’t matter. And we see that message repeated in story after story after story.

So maybe the question itself needs reframing: Is it the “economy” Americans are talking about, or is that code for life itself? In other words, how do people feel about life right now? Because there’s a lot out there to leave many of us feeling “meh.”

Unemployment has been at or below 4% for more than two years, something we haven’t seen in decades.

Here’s an example: Connecting with friends and family. How, where, and when we connect with one another today is very different compared to past generations. After the pandemic, it’s only become worse. It’s been widely documented we are in a crisis of loneliness. The Surgeon General called it a public health crisis that can lead to an increase in premature deaths. Great Britain has designated a minister for loneliness.

One county in California, home to Silicon Valley, has declared a public health emergency, which is pretty spot-on considering tech is a major reason why people feel so disconnected. Social media makes it extremely easy to stay in touch with people, but it also can make us feel like we aren’t keeping up with the Joneses.

“We are constantly evaluating ourselves relative to our peers,” said Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at the University of Santa Clara. “This has always been going on, since the dawn of time, but social media makes it on steroids because we are constantly being presented with the filtered, wonderful lives of everyone around us.”

Then there’s the impact of remote working. Working from home has done so much to create job opportunities for people around the globe, but it’s also led to hollowed out city centers and empty office buildings where there are not a lot of people or chances to connect.

Add to that, fewer Americans are attending church in person or participating in their local community. Today, over a quarter of Americans live alone, compared to just 8% in 1940. And it’s not just adults who are spending less time with other people; student absenteeism has soared across the country since the pandemic.

“We are now more alone in our little world, so we don’t have the community that we used to have,” said Plante.

This all means voters are experiencing greater isolation and loneliness as we head into the 2024 presidential election. With a likely re-match between a 77-year-old former president and the 81-year-old current president, it’s not surprising that polling shows neither candidate inspiring a feeling of newness or optimism in the way that Barak Obama, Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan did.

When you consider all of that and then add to it higher prices on the everyday things that give us joy — say, going to a concert or a sporting event — or when a Happy Meal doesn’t make you happy, then it makes sense that people’s outlook will be impacted.

To top it all off, we’re dealing with our divided and grievance driven media, the feeling others are getting ahead, worries about Gaza and Ukraine, global warming, if AI will take your job… so when a pollster calls and asks how you’re feeling about the economy, despite the facts and the data, is it really a surprise people don’t feel good?

This is an adapted excerpt from the February 14 episode of “11th Hour.”

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Economy

Minimum wage to hire higher-paid temporary foreign workers set to increase

Published

2 days ago

October 21, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.

Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage.

The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.

As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.

The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.

A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling.

In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour.

The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals.

According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.

The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.

Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees

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Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

6 days ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

7 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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