(NEW YORK) — Concerns about inflation have increasingly turned to concerns about the job market. Last month’s weaker than expected jobs report led to turmoil in stocks.
The U.S. added 142,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Friday. The figure was lower than expectations.
The reports showed a slowing but steady job market. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%.
Jobs were added in construction and health care, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. July and June numbers were revised to show 86,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
While these numbers are lower than expected, and do show a weakening job market, for now, this is still an economy that is adding a decent number of jobs. Given this latest data, the Fed is still on track to cut interest rates at its next meeting on Sept. 18.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell last month said “the time has come” to lower interest rates.
Powell indicated the Fed would soon bring interest rates down from a 23-year high. The shift could lower borrowing costs for everything from credit cards to auto loans to mortgages.
While the unemployment rate remains historically low, it ticked up to 3.8% last month. A sharp downward revision of job growth estimates in June and July lowered those totals by a combined 110,000 jobs.
(NEW YORK) — Boar’s Head has expanded its previous recall on several types of deli meats to include an additional 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products that may be contaminated with listeria.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced an update on Wednesday that Boar’s Head Provisions Co. has recalled an additional 71 products produced between May 10, 2024, and July 29, 2024, under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names.
This is an expansion on Friday’s recall announcement amid an ongoing investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into an outbreak of listeria infections linked to meats sliced at delis that have sickened 34 people across 13 states. Authorities say further testing is required to determine whether any recalled products are linked to this outbreak.
Details of Boar’s Head deli meat recall
The Virginia-based meat producer recalled approximately 207,528 pounds of products that were distributed to retail deli locations nationwide, including all liverwurst products and “additional deli meat products that were produced on the same line and on the same day as the liverwurst” that could be “adulterated with L. monocytogenes.”
Boar’s Head deli meat recalled product information
The newly added items “include meat intended for slicing at retail delis as well as some packaged meat and poultry products sold at retail locations,” FSIS stated Wednesday. “These products have ‘sell by’ dates ranging from 29-JUL-2024 through 17-OCT-24.”
Click here for the full list of product details with item numbers, brand names and sell by dates.
The ready-to-eat liverwurst products were produced between June 11, 2024, and July 17, 2024, and have a 44-day shelf life.
Recalled liverwurst products include 3.5-pound loaves in plastic casing, or “various weight packages sliced in retail delis,” according to the FSIS, and are labeled “Boar’s Head Strassburger Brand Liverwurst MADE IN VIRGINIA.”
The products, which the FSIS said were shipped to retailers, bear sell by dates ranging from July 25 to Aug. 30, 2024. Sell by dates are printed on the side of the packaging.
Additional ready-to-eat deli meats subject to recall
9.5-pound and 4.5-pound full product, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head VIRGINIA HAM OLD FASHIONED HAM” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
4-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head ITALIAN CAPPY STYLE HAM” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
6-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head EXTRA HOT ITALIAN CAPPY STYLE HAM” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
4-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head BOLOGNA” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
2.5-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head BEEF SALAMI” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
5.5-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head STEAKHOUSE ROASTED BACON HEAT & EAT” with sell by date “AUG 15” on the product packaging.
3-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head GARLIC BOLOGNA” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
3-pound, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis, containing “Boar’s Head BEEF BOLOGNA” with sell by date “AUG 10” on the product packaging.
The recalled products bear establishment number “EST. 12612” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.
The above products were produced on June 27, 2024, according to Boar’s Head.
What prompted the Boar’s Head recall
According to the USDA, the problem was discovered when the FSIS “was notified that a sample collected by the Maryland Department of Health tested positive for L. monocytogenes.”
“The Maryland Department of Health, in collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department, collected an unopened liverwurst product from a retail store for testing as part of an outbreak investigation of L. monocytogenes infections,” the agency stated. “Further testing is ongoing to determine if the product sample is related to the outbreak. Anyone concerned about illness should contact a healthcare provider.”
Details of listeria outbreak linked to deli meats
The FSIS is currently working with the CDC as well as state public health partners to investigate a multi-state outbreak of listeria infections linked to meats sliced at delis, USDA officials said this week.
According to the agency, as of July 25, “34 sick people have been identified in 13 states, including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths.”
As of July 19, states involved in the outbreak included Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.
“Samples were collected from sick people from May 29, 2024, to July 12, 2024,” the USDA stated this week, adding that “the investigation is ongoing.”
In a notice published July 19, the CDC stated that many of those sickened in the outbreak had reported eating meat that they had sliced at deli counters.
“Investigators are collecting information to determine the specific products that may be contaminated,” the CDC stated.
“Listeria spreads easily among deli equipment, surfaces, hands and food,” the agency added. “Refrigeration does not kill Listeria, but reheating to a high enough temperature before eating will kill any germs that may be on these meats.”
Symptoms, side effects of listeria
According to the CDC, listeria can cause severe illness “when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body” after a person consumes contaminated food. Those at higher risk include pregnant people, those aged 65 or older, or anyone who has a weakened immune system, the CDC says.
“If you are pregnant, it can cause pregnancy loss, premature birth, or a life-threatening infection in your newborn,” the CDC states on its website. “Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.”
According to the CDC, anyone infected with listeria may experience “mild food poisoning symptoms” such as diarrhea or fever, and many recover without antibiotic treatment.
An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump this week voiced an alarming claim about the alleged threat that immigrants pose to Black workers.
“Coming from the border are millions and millions of people who happen to be taking Black jobs,” Trump said at a gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago. “They’re taking the employment from Black people.”
Trump has delivered the same dire warning about an immigrant threat to Black employment on multiple occasions throughout the 2024 campaign, including at a debate with President Joe Biden in June.
Economists who spoke to ABC News dismissed the claim as false. In fact, they said, a tight job market in recent years delivered record-low Black unemployment and spurred rapid wage gains.
“The claim is absolutely not true,” Valerie Wilson, the director of a program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute Action, told ABC News.
In a statement to ABC News, the Trump campaign claimed that undocumented immigrants pose a threat to Black employment.
“Illegal immigration disproportionally affects Black workers, including other minority workers, and we need to do everything to protect them from their jobs from being taken away,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said.
Cheung noted that the the current Black unemployment rate of 6.3% is higher than its lowest level under Trump of 5.3%. Inflation-adjusted weekly earnings for Black workers currently stand lower than they did at their high point under Trump, Cheung added.
“That is why President Trump has promised the largest deportation operation in American history since President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Kamala Harris will give amnesty and citizenship to all 15 million illegal aliens and make permanent the assault on Black American jobs,” Cheung added.
The all-time lowest figure for Black unemployment recorded in a single month registered at 4.8% in April 2023 during Biden’s term. Last year, the average Black unemployment rate stood at 5.5%, setting a record for the lowest figure over a calendar year, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.
To be sure, the unemployment rate stood much higher than the 3.3% unemployment rate among white workers in 2023. Historically, the Black unemployment rate has clocked in roughly twice as high as that of white people, due in large part to continued racial discrimination among employers, economists previously told ABC News.
Another key metric has shown robust job gains among Black workers. Last year, the share of job holders between the ages of 25 to 54 — known as the “prime age” for workers — reached an all-time high of nearly 78% among Black people, the Economic Policy Institute found. That statistic helps correct for issues such as aging or higher education that can skew unemployment statistics.
“The bottom line is immigrants aren’t pushing out Black workers,” Christian Weller, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston who studies racial disparities in employment, told ABC News.
“It isn’t particularly surprising,” Weller added. That’s because immigrants act not only as workers but also as consumers, helping fuel demand for goods and services, which in turn propels economic activity and drives up hiring, he said.
The economy has grown at a solid pace in recent years, defying fears among some observers of a potential slowdown. Gross domestic product expanded much faster than expected over three months ending in June, U.S. Commerce Department data last week showed.
In June, a budget outlook released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said immigration would account for a sizable share of U.S. economic growth over the coming decade. In all, the U.S. GDP will rise nearly $9 trillion higher than it would otherwise due to an anticipated influx of immigrants, the CBO found.
“At the heart of this question is not just that these are people who are filling jobs that need to be filled, but they are also paying taxes, raising their families, and spending in the neighborhoods and communist in which they live,” Michelle Holder, a labor economist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told ABC News.
When speaking about the issue this week, Trump falsely characterized immigrants as a threat to “Black jobs.” That phrase “Black jobs,” which Trump used previously, drew condemnation from some economists.
Holder, who is also Black, said the term invokes a period of U.S. history that predates anti-discrimination laws, when some job listings explicitly described jobs as available only to Black applicants.
“I get a visceral reaction because there was a time in this country when there was work considered only suitable for Black people,” Holder said.
When asked about the phrase on Wednesday at the gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump said: “A Black job is anybody that has a job. That’s what it is.”
Wilson, of Economic Policy Institute Action, also criticized the phrase, in part because it fails to acknowledge the issue of “occupational segregation,” in which employers tend to place Black workers in low-wage positions rather than high-wage ones. The U.S., she added, has made progress in addressing that trend in recent years, though it remains an impediment for wage gains among Black workers.
“It’s just a very poor choice of words in terms of trying to say anything about the labor market, and it’s a poor choice of words in particular because it’s offensive,” said Wilson, who is Black.
“It totally ignores the facts about the current economy and the improvement that we’ve seen over the last four years,” Wilson added.
(NEW YORK) — Rising inflation has driven mortgage rates up, making it difficult for many Americans to find an affordable home. As a result, many potential buyers find themselves waiting for an interest rate cut to bring mortgage prices down.
For more than a year, LaToya Trotter has worked closely with trusted real estate agent Shannon Welch to find an ideal new home in the vibrant Chicago area. Trotter purchased their current home in 2020 for $45,000 in an all-cash offer.
Interest rates have dropped from their 23-year high in 2023 but are nowhere near the 3% homeowners enjoyed in 2020. This puts home prices at an all-time high, dramatically increasing moving costs.
According to the National Association of Realtors, the current monthly payment for a median-priced home has more than doubled since 2019. Buying a starter home in more than 200 U.S. cities now costs $1 million.
“It’s sad because there are people in America that will never make $1 million in their lifetime,” Welch said. “So how can they afford a million-dollar home?
Trotter, a single mother and electrical engineer, is searching for a new home priced at $400,000 to secure her 14-year-old daughter Adoniah’s future. She wants to move closer to her daughter’s school. The teenager attends a private Catholic high school located 30 minutes away from their South Chicago home.
She visited a three-bedroom, two-bath home listed for $340,000 and a five-bedroom, three-bath home with an asking price of more than $459,000.
Welch is keeping a keen eye on the market for her client. She doesn’t dismiss Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’ promise to build 3 million new housing units if elected, but she thinks that plan misses the mark in Chicago.
“We have tons of inventory throughout Chicago land,” Welch said. “We have hundreds of properties on auction. We have properties that are abandoned.”
Harris proposed a plan to assist first-generation homebuyers by providing a down payment of up to $25,000.
While Harris’ Republican rival Donald Trump has yet to outline a housing plan if he wins back the White House in November, the Republican National Party this year pledged to promote homeownership through tax incentives.
According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, more respondents trust Trump over Harris to handle the economy and inflation by 9 points. Over 85% of adults consider this a top issue in their presidential vote.
When asked who she’ll vote for this November, Trotter noted that she’ll back the candidate whose policies seem likely to offer her the best future.
“I’ll just again look to find whoever has policies that align more closely with what I’m looking to do today,” Trotter said. “It’s not about the past. It’s about looking forward.”