World Growth Slows as Furious Easing Continues:

Japan's economic growth slows

12 Aug 2013, 4:39 pm   -   Source: AAP

Japan's economic growth slowed in the April-June quarter, raising questions about whether Tokyo's bid to stoke growth is working.

Japan's economic growth slowed in the April-June quarter, raising questions about whether Tokyo's bid to stoke growth was taking hold and if it would launch a series of tax hikes.
The Cabinet office said on Monday the world's third-largest economy expanded by 0.6 per cent from the previous quarter, slower than a revised 0.9 per cent increase between January and March.
The latest figures missed analyst expectations of 0.9 per cent growth in the quarter.

As China's growth slows, US and world stand to lose

CHINA DAILY / Reuters

A laborer polishes the bottom of a cargo ship at a shipyard in Qingdao, Shandong province July 1, 2013.

The continued decline in China's manufacturing activity, reflected in twin manufacturing surveys released on Monday, highlights the risk the world's second largest economy now poses to global growth.
China's official purchasing managers index (PMI) slipped to 50.1 in June from 50.8 in May, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The final reading of HSBC PMI, meanwhile, fell to a nine-month low of 48.2, below the flash estimate of 48.3 and down from 49.2 in the previous month.

Europe Officials Expect Slow Growth

Policy Makers Are Reluctant to Take Aggressive Steps on Economy, Despite Appeals From U.S., Others

WASHINGTON—European economic officials, in speeches and private conversations at meetings here over the weekend, appeared resigned to years of slow growth, despite increasingly urgent appeals by the U.S., International Monetary Fund and some developing countries to take more forceful action.
"No one should think that Europe will deliver high growth rates in the coming years," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said at a news conference on Friday. Germany's central banker, Jens Weidmann, warned in an earlier interview with The Wall Street Journal that the crisis could drag on for a decade.

U.S. Job Growth Slows  As Wages Shrink

by

August 02, 201311:57 AM

Employees and supporters demonstrate Monday outside of a Wendy's fast-food restaurant in New York City to demand higher pay and the right to form a union. Incomes have been stagnant, especially for minimum-wage workers.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Employers added 162,000 workers in July, and the U.S. unemployment rate slipped to 7.4 percent, the lowest level since December 2008, the Friday.
But while the number of jobs did increase, the hiring pace was slower than in the spring, marking a setback for unemployed Americans who had hoped for a better summer.
"The labor market begins the second half of 2013 with a fizzle," economist Heidi Shierholz, with the Economic Policy Institute, says in her analysis of the data. "At this rate, it would take six years to ... get back to health in the labor market."
Over the past year, the economy has added an average of 189,000 jobs per month. As jobs have grown, the jobless rate has dropped from 8.2 percent one year ago. In June, the rate was 7.6 percent.
To some extent, the falling unemployment rate also as baby boomers retire and young people stay in college longer. Also, some people are staying home with children or elderly parents, and millions have stopped applying for jobs because they think it's hopeless. When fewer people seek work, then the unemployment rate looks smaller.