When food and energy -- two especially volatile and important price categories -- are removed from the picture however, prices actually rose two tenths of one percent in March. This is another sign that things are far more complicated than they seem.
According to the most recent news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 299,388 worker lost their jobs in 2,933 mass layoff events (where fifty or more employees were let go from a single employer). This is one hundred and sixty four more mass layoff events than occurred in February, and the number of individual claims that has come as the result of these layoffs has increased by 3,911 -- this is not the number of claims, but the additional number of claims made in March as compared to February. This is also over one thousand more layoff events than occurred in the same month last year, corresponding to 137,891 more associated unemployment claims. The total unemployment rate of eight-and-a-half percent compares...
does not have a spouse/parent/child/other supporting them), but who cannot find a job. Inflation is basically the rise in the cost of goods. Generally, some inflation is a good thing -- people make more money, which means they are paid more to produce things, which means the prices of these things go up, which means people need to make more....it is a normal part of the cycle. When things get out of whack, however, inflation can rise too quickly. The government could try -- and is, in fact -- to use macroeconomic policy to address these issues. Keeping the cost of energy lower could increase business, but a lot more change is needed to turn things around and create more jobs, and this might have to take place on a micro level.
