The Economy

Teens Take Up More Jobs, and More Pay, in Tight Labor Market

That was last year; not much has changed, though, because we still have a severe labor shortage in this country due to all of the junior central planning / reimagining, that has made us a third-rate country that doesn't actually produce much of anything, but has put ourselves into massive debt to keep consuming a ton of services (which require more and more low-wage, low-skill employees).

For every two of those jobs available, there is only one worker, due to fiscal and monetary stupdity that keeps labor force participation insanely low. ... and has created way more demand for services now than there is supply (in large part because of the shortage of workers).

Reality is the exact opposite of the narrative about teenagers being exploited to steal jobs from adults. For about 3 years, we have seen rising (runaway) inflation and fast food restaurants were suffering from severe staffing shortages. That actually has led to higher wages to try to attract workers (and higher prices for the people who eat at those restaurants), and as the fiscal stupidity from the pandemic has filtered through (stimulus!), it has been attracting more adults to those jobs. ... some who are no longer receiving benefits, some who are struggling because of the rise in prices all of that stimulus caused by spurring so much demand.

 

When you say "take home more money in retirement" are you talking about income or savings or a combination of the two?

 

OPEC

Joe Biden drained a lot of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, for political reasons around the midterm elections last year, and then for who knows what reason. The Saudis weren't happy about that. But they hadn't pushed more production cuts because they were being told that with the oil price lower, the U.S. was going to start buying to replenish the SPR.

Then, Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary made a public comment saying that would not be happening this year. It pissed the Saudis off, and almost immediately OPEC announced a reduction of a million barrels a day.

FWIW, the EIA released weekly oil stock numbers a few hours ago. ... and the gang that can't shoot straight is back at it. They are releasing more oil from the SPR, which can't be all that strategic, given that it is being squandered this way. The reserves are at the lowest level since the early 1980s now.