By, THOMAS J. DONOHUE President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 1/ 17 (link source)
On Labor Day many Americans enjoy a day off to spend with friends and family—and for good reason. Our country’s workers are some of the most creative, productive, and resilient in the world, and together they drive the most dynamic economy in history. A day off to honor their efforts and achievements is well deserved. But they also deserve to be rewarded throughout the year—and employers work hard to ensure that they are.
Business leaders are committed to helping their employees become fulfilled in their work, earn a good wage, provide for their families, and have the resources and support they need to lead healthy and comfortable lives. For example, employers paid roughly $8 trillion in wages and salaries last year, and that’s only the beginning. They spent an additional $1.9 trillion on employee benefits.
One of the most popular benefits in the private sector is employer-sponsored health care, which approximately 150 million Americans received in 2015. Many employers find that providing health care is not only the right thing to do, but it is an important way to attract the best talent and foster a healthy, productive workforce. In 2016, total health benefit costs averaged $11,920 per employee.
Businesses also help workers save and plan for the future. Private sector employers provided $242.3 billion worth of retirement benefits in 2016. Millions of businesses offer defined contribution plans, which are tremendously popular with employees. Nearly 90% of employees are eligible to participate in these types of plans. Many other options are also made available to workers, including defined benefit and profit-sharing plans.
We don’t share these figures to pat ourselves on the back but, rather, to remind those who question the motives of business that we care a great deal about the welfare of our employees—and are willing to spend big to protect them. More and more employers are making it a core part of their business plans to offer exceptional benefits to employees—from workplace amenities to generous family leave policies to paid vacation, and more.
Business owners who can afford to offer outstanding benefits are often eager to do so. This is one of the many reasons it’s good for everyone—including workers, families, and communities—when businesses are able to compete, grow, and succeed. So if we really want to honor American workers on Labor Day, and each day, we must advance a robust free enterprise system that lifts the economy for all people.
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: The Labor Market’s Next Chapter: Wages
J.D. Foster Senior Vice President, Economic Policy Division, and Chief Economist
Article posted 8/ 31/ 17 (link source)
We should be hopeful. The U.S. labor market is turning the page to the last chapter of recovery from the recession ending over eight years prior. The penultimate chapter involved the steady drive toward full employment, a process about completed heading into 2018. The last chapter should feature a long-awaited acceleration in real wage growth, a process that will be well-received by many but which will have substantial knock-on effects.
Lagging real wage growth has frustrated workers and policy makers alike throughout the recovery. Real wages fell four years straight even after the recovery began in 2009, but finally started to rise in 2013, rose by 1.8 percent in 2015, but then fell back again to 1.2 percent in 2016.
In one respect, anemic wage growth has been a natural complement to the steady rate of job growth. Not that the rate of employment growth has been exceptional, but it has been curiously high given the relatively tepid rate of overall economic growth. As long as wage growth remained subdued, employers could better afford to add more workers.
So the process continued year after year until now a common refrain across the country, across all business sectors and sizes: employers can’t find enough workers with the skills and training needed. In a great many cases, what employers are saying whether they know it or not is they can’t find the workers they need at the wages the employers expect to pay. And there’s the rub.
Eventually, once the need grows great enough employers are going to try something new. In some cases, employers will turn to adding capital as a solution. Adding capital to help workers become more productive is fundamental to economic growth, but the process takes time. Meanwhile, as employers seek out the workers they need, employers will have to resort to yet another time-honored solution: They have to pay more. They are going to have to start bidding harder for the workers they need, and that means a period of relatively rapid real wage growth across-the-board.
The last chapter of the healing of the nation’s labor markets should be the long-delayed period of relatively rapid real wage growth benefitting the vast bulk of the nation’s workforce. The growth in employment has been adequate, but this growth mostly benefited new hires. Those who are already employed have enjoyed fewer of the recovery’s benefits as politicians across the political spectrum have observed. If real wage growth accelerates as expected, the financial stress many Americans feel should steadily diminish.
On the other hand, rising real wages will also put new pressure on business profits, forcing many businesses to redouble their efforts to become more efficient and more competitive. Rising real wages will also likely trigger a modest increase in business failures as less profitable firms succumb to rising wage costs they cannot bear. While such business failures are lamentable, business failures are also a necessary part of the process of recovery and growth as resources are diverted from less to more efficient uses.
A big part of this phenomenon has been the absence of strong real wage growth under President Obama’s policies. The opening of the last chapter in the labor market recovery, faster rising wages, should permit the economy to work much more effectively for the benefit of most American workers.
Critically important, however, is keeping the economy growing at a strong, sustainable pace to allow time for wages to grow. The good news, as former Clinton Administration economist Alan Blinder notes, is that the economy should have “sunny days” ahead, at least as long as bad luck and bad policy can be kept at bay. Indeed, sound economic policy can help ensure Blinder’s “sunny days” continue.
The answer is not to fall back on flimsy nostrums such as are commonly proposed and which Senator Schumer championed in his comments, but to focus on policies like comprehensive tax reform that can keep the economy growing so employment can remain high and wages can continue to grow.
US DEPT. OF LABOR: STATEMENT ON LABOR DAY BY U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR ALEXANDER ACOSTA
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 4/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta released the following statement to commemorate Labor Day:
“Labor Day is the one day a year that we set aside to honor the men and women who work every day to make this nation great. At the Department of Labor, we have the great privilege of engaging with the greatest workforce in the world, the American workforce.
“On this day, we remember that every individual matters and every worker makes a contribution to the United States economy. The miners and the growers, the makers and the builders, the movers and the drivers, make all that we have possible.
“This is especially important to remember as the State of Texas begins the long and difficult work of recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Many workers of all skills will be needed to reconstruct homes, businesses, and infrastructure.
“This Labor Day, we remember the work it took to build these great United States. We accomplish great things working together as one nation. Happy Labor Day!”
US DEPT. OF LABOR BLOG: Doubling Down on Success
BLOG POSTED 9/ 1/ 17 (link source)
Helping others has always been second nature to Clay Watkins and Amber Burney. Engaged to be married, both dream of pursuing careers in the social services field: Clay as a mobile therapist and Amber as a social worker. A new opportunity has them one step closer to that goal.
Clay and Amber now work full-time as apprentices, serving in direct support professional roles at SPIN Inc. The Philadelphia non-profit serves people of all ages with autism and intellectual/developmental disabilities.
SPIN's Human Services apprenticeship program, which began in spring 2017, was a lifeline for the two native Philadelphians, who were jobless and facing financial difficulties after a brief stint helping Amber’s mother in Alabama.
Amber was the first to look into the program, following up on a recommendation from her grandmother. She had just started pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology by taking online courses with Asher University. The program was the perfect complement.
It wasn’t long before Clay’s interest was piqued while tagging along with Amber on program-related appointments, and he decided to pursue the same path.
“I actually started to enjoy myself and learn more, which made me like it,” said Clay.
After completing a pre-apprenticeship program, the couple was selected by SPIN. They will complete their apprenticeships in July 2018.
Besides their wedding date on Oct. 27, 2018, Clay and Amber are looking forward to a bright professional future. They each see the apprenticeship program as a springboard for their careers and offer the following advice to anyone considering the program: “Take advantage of the opportunity because it leads to a career. Make the sacrifice. It’s worth it.”
IRS Provides Penalty Relief for Partnerships that Filed Late Returns in 2017
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 1/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued guidance providing penalty relief for certain partnerships that did not file the required returns by the new due date for tax years beginning in 2016. Partnerships file Form 1065 or Form 1065-B or request an automatic extension by filing Form 7004.
The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 changed the date by which a partnership must file its annual return. For calendar year partnerships, the due date for filing the annual return or request for an extension changed from April 15 (April 18 in 2017) to March 15.
Many partnerships filed their returns or their extension requests for tax year 2016 by the April deadline, and if not for the Surface Transportation Act, these returns and requests for extension of time to file would have been on time.
Notice 2017-47 provides penalty abatement for these partnerships, provided:
the partnership filed the returns with the IRS and furnished copies to the recipients (as appropriate) by the date that would have been timely, or
the partnership filed Form 7004 to request an extension of time to file by the date that would have been timely.
Taxpayers who qualify for relief under Notice 2017-47 will not be treated as having received a first-time abatement under the IRS’s administrative penalty waiver program. Additional details are available in Notice 2017-47.
The new deadlines were provided in the instructions for Form 1065 and the instructions for Form 1065-B.
For calendar year partnerships, the due date for filing a return after receiving an extension is Sept 15. The IRS projected that corporations and partnerships will file almost 6.9 million extension requests during 2017 The IRS expects to receive more than 4 million partnership returns during 2017.
IRS: Summer 2017 Statistics of Income Bulletin Now Available
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 1/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today announced that the Summer 2017 Statistics of Income Bulletin is available on IRS.gov. The Statistics of Income (SOI) Division produces the online Bulletin quarterly, providing the most recent data available from various tax and information returns filed by U.S. taxpayers. This issue includes articles on the following topics:
High-Income Tax Returns, Tax Year 2014 – For tax year 2014, there were almost 6.3 million individual income tax returns with incomes of $200,000 or more, accounting for 4.2 percent of all returns for the year, up from 5.6 million returns for tax year 2013.
Corporate Foreign Tax Credit Study, Tax Year 2013 – For tax year 2013, some 6,542 corporations filing corporation income tax returns reported more than $118 billion in foreign tax credits. Firms in manufacturing industries accounted for 58 percent of all foreign tax credits. European countries accounted for 39.3 percent of taxable foreign-source income and 46 percent of current year foreign taxes.
Individual Noncash Contributions, Tax Year 2014 – The number of individuals filing Form 8283 to claim a noncash charitable contribution rose to 8 million for tax year 2014, an increase of 3.9 percent over tax year 2013. Total donations reported increased 30.1 percent for 2014 to $60.4 billion. Of this total, more than half went to foundations ($18.9 billion) and large charitable organizations ($12.2 billion).
Federal Reserve Board adopts final rule to enhance financial stability
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 1/ 17 (link source)
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday adopted a final rule to enhance financial stability by requiring U.S. global systemically important banking institutions (GSIBs) and the U.S. operations of foreign GSIBs to amend qualified financial contracts to prevent their immediate cancellation or termination if the firm enters bankruptcy or a resolution process.
Qualified financial contracts (QFCs) include derivatives, securities lending, and short-term funding transactions such as repurchase agreements. Given the large volume of QFCs to which GSIBs are a party, the mass termination of QFCs in the event of financial distress or failure of a GSIB may lead to the disorderly failure of the firm, spark asset fire sales, and transmit financial distress across the U.S. financial system. The final rule contains two key requirements. First, the final rule requires QFCs of GSIBs, including those with foreign counterparties, to clarify that U.S. resolution laws providing for a temporary stay to prevent mass terminations apply to the contracts. Second, the final rule prohibits the QFCs of GSIBs from allowing the exercise of default rights that could spread the bankruptcy of one GSIB entity to its solvent affiliates.
"The final rule will reduce the threat that a disorderly unraveling of QFCs would pose to our financial system and the broader economy," said Governor Jerome H. Powell."
GSIBs may comply with the final rule by using the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) 2015 Universal Resolution Stay Protocol or a similar resolution stay protocol described in the final regulation to amend their QFCs.
In response to comments, the Board tailored the transition period based on the type of counterparty. The final rule requires GSIBs to conform their QFCs with other GSIBs within one year and within 18 months for QFCs with most other financial counterparties. Additionally, GSIBs would have two years to conform QFCs with community banks and all other counterparties. The final rule also excludes QFCs that do not contain default rights or restrictions that could undermine the orderly resolution of a GSIB.
Compliance will phase in beginning on January 1, 2019.
US TREASURY DEPT: Preliminary Annual Report On U.S. Holdings Of Foreign Securities At Year-End 2016
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 8/ 31/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON – Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2016 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at (https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/fpis.aspx). The final survey report, which will include additional detail as well as possible revisions to the data, will be released on October 31, 2017.
The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually. Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2017, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 28, 2018.
Overall Preliminary Results
The survey measured the value of U.S. holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2016 at approximately $9.9 trillion, with $7.1 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.4 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.3 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2015, measured the value of U.S. holdings at $9.5 trillion, with $6.8 trillion held in foreign equities, $2.3 trillion held in foreign long-term debt securities, and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.
WORLD AND NATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
From the UN NEWS CENTER:
UN political chief urges Security Council to 'remain united, take appropriate action' on DPR Korea
4 September 2017 – The top United Nations political official today urged the Security Council to remain united and take appropriate action against Sunday's nuclear explosive test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Editorial Note: Kim Jong, is a killer, and blackmailer, who uses threats of violence to get what he wants, the very essence of a schoolyard bully. Russia and China still protects this menace to the known social world stage. If it takes a trade embargo against this thugs protectors then so be it.
UN Secretary-General condemns DPR Korea's underground nuclear test
3 September 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned today's underground nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as “yet another serious breach of the country's international obligations.”
NATIONAL
NEWSWEEK: What is Labor Day and Why Do Americans Celebrate It?
As summer draws to a close and schools prepare to open their doors again, Labor Day comes around like a sweet salve to workers in the United States.
USA TODAY: Meet the 13-year-old running for Vermont governor
BRISTOL, Vt. — Whether by design or accident, Vermont's founders imposed no age requirement on those who could run for governor of this state.
Daily Bible Verse: [ Be Loyal to the Faith ] Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
2 Timothy 1:13-14 NKJV
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