Men helping out the recession by buying more

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Men are at it again. They are buying more–for themselves.

The male shopper, who laid low at the onset of the recession, is back. He is buying more and spending more, and retailers are delighted.

Men are not just purchasing suits, dress shirts, ties and shoes. They are rivaling their female counterparts by loading up on accessories. They are buying bracelets, bags, hats, umbrella, belts, scarves, pocket squares, caps, metal cuffs –you name it.

Some industry forecasters predict sales growth for men’s clothing and accessories during the first three months of 2012 will set a 20-year high.

In a move to make traditional women’s accessories more appealing to men, some designers are giving them manly monikers. A bracelet is dubbed wristwear, and a purse is called a holdall.

Men were well represented at last week’s New York Fashion Week, and male adornments took center stage.

Spending on accessories is driving the men’s category. In the last half of 2011, sales grew 14 percent to about $6 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. The trend is expected to continue.

The return of the male shopper could help pick up retail sales. And, the rebound in male shopping may also bode well for the unemployment rate. It may reflect an improved jobs picture for men.

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Wall Street opens higher Friday fueled by a strong jobs report

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Stocks opened sharply higher Friday after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months.

Shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 113 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 12 points and the NASDAQ jumped 28 points.

Oil was up 64 cents to $97.13, and gold was lower by $7, last trading at $1,752.50 a troy ounce.

The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 243,000 in January, the most since April, and far exceeding economists’ expectations of a gain of just 150,000.

The strong jobs reports put the unemployment rate to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent and buoyed investor sentiment.

Market watchers will also be watching the big game Sunday. For the past 36 of 45 Super Bowls, the stock market has gone up after a win by an original National Football League team, one that traces its roots to before the merger with the American Football League, and gone down when the AFL (or newer team) is victorious.

So, Wall Street wants the Giants to win the Super Bowl.

The measure has an 80 percent accuracy rate based on the Dow Jones Industrial Averages’ annual performance.

There is not any science to it, but it is still as reliable as it gets for stock forecasting.

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Nation’s Mayors Support Gay Marriage But Complain About Unemployment

DC, Washington, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up its winter meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepping into controversies on same sex marriage and education.

Emanuel joined about 80 other mayors from across the nation in endorsing laws to give legal recognition to same sex marriage, along with the tax breaks and other benefits spouses can share.

The mayors signed on to a statement that said, “Our cities derive great strength from their diversity and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part. Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive.”

Emanuel supported the Illinois Legislature’s effort last year to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.

He said New York did “a good thing” last June when state lawmakers legalized gay marriage.

In separate comments Friday, Emanuel discussed his plan to turn Chicago’s community colleges into training institutions for the city’s employers.

Currently, Chicago’s City Colleges have a graduation rate of about 7 percent and job prospects for graduates that are “not as high,” Emanuel said.

His plan calls for each of the city’s seven community colleges to operate with specialties, such as health care, transportation, hospitality and manufacturing.

In addition, employers would be brought in to develop curricula that would train the students to become their employees.

“I want it to have economic value” to attend college, Emanuel said at the downtown Washington hotel where about 250 mayors were meeting.

Turning colleges into job training institutions is controversial among some academics, who say a well-rounded education requires liberal arts courses that include literature, history and the arts.

Nevertheless, job creation and recovery from the economic disaster of the Great Recession were dominant themes throughout the meeting this week.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that said the nation’s metropolitan areas will struggle for five more years to regain jobs lost during the recession that started in September 2008.

“The recovery is very uneven across U.S. regions, with the southeastern and southwestern metro [areas that] were the most affected by the housing bubble looking ahead to years of recovery,” the report says.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls will grow about 1.3 percent this year, which is unlikely to reduce the unemployment rate below 8 percent, according to a report by IHS Global Insight.

The report predicts the nation will regain nearly half the jobs lost during the Great Recession by the end of 2012.

The mayors used the economic report to try to prod Congress to approve legislation that would create more jobs.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the Conference of Mayors, said “Congress has jumped ship” in its obligation to stimulate the economy and employment.

However, Villaraigosa acknowledged cities will have a hard time squeezing money out of Congress at a time the federal government is trying to reduce its deficit by cutting spending.

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Germany’s unemployment rate drops to record low in December

Berlin, Germany (AHN) – Germany’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 percent in December from 6.9 percent in November, its lowest rate since 1991, according to the German Federal Labor Agency.

Strong German exports are behind the lower unemployment rate.

The seasonally adjusted number of jobless persons fell by 22,000 to 2.88 million in December, marking a new record low rate for unified Germany since those figures were first published in 1991. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The jobless rate had risen as high as 12 percent after the Wall fell, because some industries died in parts of the old East Germany.

However, cities there such as Leipzig are attracting manufacturing because wages are lower than in the West.

About 40 million people, or half the 82 million German population, now have jobs, with half a million of those jobs created during 2011.

Nevertheless, economists warn that growth will likely slow this year in line with other eurozone nations. That would cause a loss of jobs and downward pressure on wages.

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UK unemployment hits 17-year high of 2.64 million

London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Unemployment in the United Kingdom has hit a 17-year high, rising to 8.3 percent for the second quarter of the year up from 7.9 percent the previous quarter.

The number of jobless people in the UK increased by 128,000 to 2.64 million in the three months ending in October. That was the highest level seen since the three months ending in January 1996.

Meantime, the number of job openings dropped by 455,000.

Observers expect the worsening unemployment problem will put pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to do more to achieve growth in the economy and to ease up on austerity measures.

The number of unemployed people claiming the Jobseeker’s Allowance rose by 3,000 to 1.6 million in November. In addition, the number of employed people dropped by 63,000 to 29.11 million compared to three months earlier.

Ongoing job losses in the public sector are to blame for much of the decrease in the number of working-age people with jobs in the UK. The private sector has only created one job for every 13 lost in the public sector.

Moreover, while the number of job vacancies continues to fall, the number of long-term unemployed continues to rise.

Those who have been jobless for 12 months or longer now account for one in three of all the unemployed and increased to 868,000 from 849,000 three months earlier.

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Stagnant consumer price data sends U.S. stocks higher

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks soared higher Friday after new data showed that inflation does not appear to be a problem.

Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 82 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was up 10 points and the NASDAQ rose 20 points.

Giving stocks an edge up was the Consumer Price Index, the government’s key measure of inflation, which showed prices barely budged in October, and that in the past 12 months prices were up 3.4 percent, nearly unchanged from a 3.5 percent annual inflation rate in October.

Gas prices fell 2.4 percent in the month, but were still up 19.7 percent for the year. Food prices rose a scant 0.1 percent in November, and 4.7 percent year-over-year.

The CPI measure of inflation comes from a broad range of goods ranging from food to gas to clothing to health care services to cars.

Overall, wages are still lagging inflation. Average hourly earnings rose just 1.8 percent in the 12 months ending in November, and the unemployment rate hovers just below 9 recent.

Oil was unchanged in morning trading at $93.70 a barrel, and gold gained some ground, trading higher by $15 at $1,590 a troy ounce.

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Men’s apparel sales to be a bright spot this holdiay season

NYC, NY, United States (AHN) – Clothes make the man, and more and more men are making the move to more fashionable attire.

That increased interest and demand may turn out to be a particularly bright spot for retail sales this holiday season.

Total U.S. men’s apparel sales rose 6.5 percent to $53.7 billion in the year through September, outpacing the 1.2 percent rise in women’s wear, according to market researcher NPD Group.

And, it wasn’t t-shirts, sweats, sneakers and jerseys that were driving sales. Men’s tailored clothing, including suits and sports coats, jumped 10.8 percent, and men’s dress shirts gained 2.3 percent.

The increase in men’s apparel was apparent during the period across all price points and all ages.

Younger men are buying more expensive suits and older men are paying more attention to “casual to work” wear. Polo shirts and khakis are not enough anymore.

Despite the high unemployment rate, men’s dress shirts and ties are still strong sellers. Express Inc., known for its causal clothes, is expected to sell one million neckties this year, and anticipates that dress shirts will be one of its strongest categories.

Coach Inc., recognized for its high-end leather handbags and accessories, is aggressively opening men’s stand-alone stores and dual gender shops.

Looks like many males are attune to the fact that a well dressed man never goes unnoticed.

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VP Biden promotes American Jobs Act with Alexandria police chief

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – There was laughter and goodwill as Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday addressed a select audience of law enforcement officials in Alexandria in Virginia saying, “We need better roads, we need better bridges, we need safer streets.”

Sending a message to Congress to pass the $450-billion American Jobs Act Biden said, “We’ve got to kick start this economy that’s stalled.”

Speaking at the spacious new headquarters of the Alexandria Police Department in Alexandria, Va., Vice President Biden announced that the hosting organization had won funds for the hiring of four new officers with the almost $859,000 it received from the more than $243 million in grant funds.

Keeping the focus on American Jobs Act, Biden said, “We need to be in a position where our kids are in classrooms where there’s enough qualified teachers, where they are in fact in classes where they are safe.”

“Look, we should be doing all of this stuff even if we were growing by 8%, even if there was a 3% unemployment rate in America,” Biden. The recent unemployment rate continue to hover above 9% although it was around 7% when President Barack Obama took office in 2008.

In November 2010 the unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent for the third time since Obama signed the first stimulus bill into law. In August 2011 the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent.

Education and jobs for teachers was another major thrust of Biden speech as he talked about getting hundreds of thousands of teachers back to work.

“If anyone is gonna define what the middle class is — which is what we say this is all about — it’s a school teacher, a firefighter, a law enforcement officer. That is the definition of middle class,” Biden stressed.

Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook thanked the Vice President for the federal grant of $900,000 but noted that he was still about 30 officers short of where he’d like to be as the department continued under pressure for nearly three years with budget cuts.

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LA Times joining new mass layoffs list with 66 additional employees cut

Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – The Los Angeles Times has announced plans to cut at least 66 employees by the end of the third quarter of the year.

It is particularly bad news for the affected employees because the nation’s unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent, and the economy did not create any jobs in August.

Company officials announced the first 30 of the 66 cuts just before Labor Day. At that point, the cuts only affected operations.

Now, the announced cuts affect circulation, marketing, advertising and editorial as well.

Company officials say most of the employees losing their jobs are eligible for severance pay.

Here is a breakdown of the job losses at the LA Times: 16 editorial staffers, 16 employees in packaging and distribution, 10 in the pressroom, 14 people in circulation, five workers in paper handling, two employees in marketing and two in advertising and one employee at the paper’s magazine.

The layoffs at the Los Angeles paper are only the most recent in the newspaper industry.

On Monday, the Salt Lake Tribune announced it had cut five employees from the newsroom because of a drop in advertising revenue. Last week, the St. Petersburg Times announced a 5 percent pay cut for employees, and it announced changes to the paper’s severance package in anticipation of new layoffs.

However, the woes extend well beyond the print media sector.

Yesterday, Bank of America announced plans to lay off 30,000 employees and industry insiders said they expected more U.S. banks to follow suit soon.

Other industries have recently announced mass layoffs as well.

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UK unemployment rate rises by 80,000

London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Unemployment rose in the United Kingdom by 80,000 to 2.51 million during the three months ending in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

That represents the largest jobless increase in almost two years and brought the official unemployment rate to 7.9 percent, the ONS said.

Unemployment for youth also rose and now stands at 973,000.

Government officials said they are determined to take steps to get the economy moving and help create jobs in the private sector. A growth in jobs there would offset cuts to public-sector jobs as the government enacts budget cuts.

In the meantime, the number of people collecting unemployment compensation insurance in August also rose. The number of jobless workers claiming the Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 20,300 to 1.58 million people.

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U.K. admits weak retail sales in July

London, United Kingdom (AHN) – Retail sales, excluding gasoline, grew weakly in the United Kingdom during July rising only 0.2 percent compared to the 0.8 percent growth rate in June, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A drop in the sales of clothing and household goods offset the increase in food sales.

Sales of clothing, shoes and household goods dropped by 0.3 percent each, which offsets the 0.7 percent growth in food store sales.

Economists blame the decline in retail sales on inflation in prices coupled with job losses and stagnant wages for those with jobs.

Sales were also down by 0.2 percent in July compared to the same month a year earlier.

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Australian unemployment rate rises to 5.1% for July

Adelaide, Australia (AHN) – The unemployment rate in Australia unexpectedly increased in July to 5.1 percent, according to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Australia’s jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point from June’s 4.9 percent.

That puts the jobless rate at its highest level since last November. Analysts say it shows that the nation’s economy — powered largely by the mining sector — is slowing.

The increased unemployment rate comes on the heels of stalled retail sales and weak consumer confidence. Since the employment rate is a lagging indicator, economists expect unemployment to rise further.

News of the unemployment figures caused the Australian dollar to slump briefly in currency pairs trading against the U.S. dollars before recovering.

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