Pew: More and more Americans are outside the labor force entirely.
According to the October jobs report, more than 92 million Americans — 37% of the civilian population aged 16 and over — are neither employed nor unemployed, but fall in the category of “not in the labor force.” That means they aren’t working now but haven’t looked for work recently enough to be counted as unemployed. While that’s not quite a record — figures have been a bit higher earlier this year — the share of folks not in the labor force remains near all-time highs.
Why? You might think legions of retiring Baby Boomers are to blame, or perhaps the swelling ranks of laid-off workers who’ve grown discouraged about their re-employment prospects. While both of those groups doubtless are important (though just how important is debated by labor economists), our analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggests another key factor: Teens and young adults aren’t as interested in entering the work force as they used to be, a trend that predates the Great Recession.
By far the biggest chunk of people not in the labor force are people who simply don’t want to be, according to data from the monthly Current Population Survey (which the BLS uses to, among other things, calculate the unemployment rate). Last month, according to BLS, 85.9 million adults didn’t want a job now, or 93.3% of all adults not in the labor force. (All of the figures we’re using in this post are unadjusted for seasonal variations.)
Chicago Tribune: Metra approves fare increase
Metra’s board Friday unanimously approved a fare hike averaging nearly 11 percent starting in February, but not without a note of dissent over the size of the increase.
That challenge was withdrawn, however, when Chairman Martin Oberman directed Metra’s administrators to try to wring further cost-savings out of the commuter agency’s operations.
Oberman said the board’s decision was a “major step” toward addressing longstanding and future operations, equipment and infrastructure needs.
Sun-Times: On deck in Springfield: an Uber debate
Get ready for an Uber debate in Springfield next week.
State lawmakers are gearing up for an attempt to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto on legislation that would have imposed statewide regulations on ridesharing firms like UberX, Lyft and Sidecar, Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs said.
Durkin made the remarks on “Off Message,” the weekly political talk show broadcast on the political portal Early & Often.
“I do believe it will be called in the House. The motion will be filed to override the governor’s veto. We may take that up next week. I do believe it will be called for a vote,” Durkin said. “It’s going to be very close. I think it will be closer than the vote that was taken last Spring. I know that the groups Lyft and Uber have lobbied up, they’ve got a lot of people working on it. There’s been a lot of activity.”
Chicago Tribune: Obamacare was sold on a pack of lies
It’s not exactly the Ems Dispatch (the diplomatic cable Otto von Bismarck doctored to provoke the 1870 Franco-Prussian War). But what the just-resurfaced Gruber Confession lacks in world-historical consequence, it makes up for in world-class cynicism. This October 2013 video shows MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, a principal architect of Obamacare, admitting that, in order to get it passed, the law was made deliberately obscure and deceptive.
It constitutes the ultimate vindication of the charge that Obamacare was sold on a pack of lies.
Crain's: What Emanuel wants from Rauner: 'More money'
With Chicago facing a solvency-threatening pension crisis, Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel knows just what he wants from Illinois’s newly elected governor: “more money,” he says.
Emanuel won’t have to endure an awkward get-to-know-you session before he asks Bruce Rauner, the first Republican governor elected in 16 years. Their careers intersected in 1999, when Emanuel, during an investment-banking foray, represented Rauner’s private-equity firm in a half-billion dollar deal that made a lot of money and formed the foundation of a friendship.
The financial peril of the nation’s fifth-most-populous state — the lowest credit rating, the worst-funded retirement system, $4.9 billion in unpaid bills — is compounded by pension liabilities that could cripple its largest city. Unlike Washington, where President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have been locked for years in partisan money battles, Illinois has a long history of deal-cutting between governors and Chicago mayors of different parties.
Bloomberg: Emanuel Counts on Friend Rauner to Shake Money Loose for Chicago
With Chicago facing a solvency-threatening pension crisis, Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel knows just what he wants from Illinois’s newly elected governor: “more money,” he says.
Emanuel won’t have to endure an awkward get-to-know-you session before he asks Bruce Rauner, the first Republican governor elected in 16 years. Their careers intersected in 1999, when Emanuel, during an investment-banking foray, represented Rauner’s private-equity firm in a half-billion dollar deal that made a lot of money and formed the foundation of a friendship.
The financial peril of the nation’s fifth-most-populous state — the lowest credit rating, the worst-funded retirement system, $4.9 billion in unpaid bills — is compounded by pension liabilities that could cripple its largest city. Unlike Washington, where President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have been locked for years in partisan money battles, Illinois has a long history of deal-cutting between governors and Chicago mayors of different parties.
U.S. News: Should I Pay the Obamacare Tax Penalty?
The clock is ticking for millions of uninsured Americans who are grappling with a critical decision: Should they comply with the federal mandate to purchase health insurance or pay the penalty instead?
The Affordable Care Act requires most people who can afford health insurance to buy coverage – a provision known as the individual mandate – or pay a penalty based on their taxable annual income and household size.
“People need to understand that taxes and health care are now connected,” said Meg Sutton, senior advisor for tax and health care services at H&R Block. “Every individual and family should consider the personal impact of the Affordable Care Act no matter what decision they make about health insurance.”
Forbes: Twinkies-maker Hostess Brands going up for sale
The private equity owners of Hostess Brands LLC are planning to put the maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs up for sale in early 2015, potentially valuing it at more than $1.7 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos, which bought Hostess Brands out of bankruptcy for $410 million in 2013, have received inquiries from some potential buyers about selling the cake business, the people said.
Hostess Brands is also having conversations with investment banks Rothschild, Credit Suisse Group AG and Perella Weinberg Partners about advisory roles they are likely to have in a potential sale, the people added.
Chicago Sun Times: Chicago election official fired
Chicago election official has been fired in the aftermath of a contentious election that has resulted in a criminal probe of disruptive robocalls and complaints about “irregularities” in handling ballots in the state treasurer’s race.
A division supervisor for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners has been fired, said Jim Allen, a board spokesman.
Allen would only say the person fired was a division supervisor and not “a top manager.” He declined to say why the person was fired, saying it was a personnel issue
Chicago Tribune: Threat to health subsidies could force state's hand to create exchange
A legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act and two imminent deadlines are putting pressure on Illinois to act to set up a state-based health insurance exchange or risk losing subsidies that help thousands of residents pay their premiums.
A pending U.S. Supreme Court case will take up the question of whether the subsidies are legal in more than three dozen states, including Illinois, that use a federal insurance portal connecting consumers with health plans. By establishing its own exchange, Illinois could shore up the subsidies and insulate the state from the high court’s decision.
State administrators plan to submit an application by Friday, the deadline to apply for federal funds to help set up a state-based exchange, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for Get Covered Illinois, which oversees enrollment in the state. This is the last year the federal government is offering financial assistance to states to set up their own exchanges.