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CNN
13 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
The Labor Department has suddenly stopped funding a senior job training program
Goodwill, Easterseals and other nonprofit organizations say thousands of low-income seniors could soon be unemployed because funding hasn't come through for a decades-old federal job training and placement program. The Department of Labor has yet to release more than $300 million in funds for national grantees of the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which was created in 1965 to help low-income, out-of-work adults 55 and older — especially veterans, rural residents and people with disabilities — return to the workforce. On July 1, the Department of Labor released about $86 million in funds to state recipients, but the national grantees' funds were not released (something that's typically done in May), several of the longtime participating nonprofit organizations told CNN. The funding pause of the program that serves about 40,000 seniors was first reported by Bloomberg Law. As a result, those organizations say they've had to furlough seniors participating in the program, as well as their own employees. These moves are coming at a time when hiring activity has continued to slow in the broader US labor market. 'This is an intrinsically American program, when you think about it: people who want to work, who want to be contributing members of society, people who want to be able to support themselves, who want to be a part of a community,' Kendra Davenport, president and chief executive officer of Easterseals, which provides services to children and adults with disabilities. But the uncertainty extends beyond the current year's funding, as the program itself is feared to be on borrowed time: The proposed 2026 fiscal year budget for the Labor Department proposes eliminating the SCSEP and a slew of other longtime job training programs and replacing them with a block grant to be distributed to states and local communities. Such potential cuts couldn't be coming at a worse time, Davenport said. 'If you look at a macro level at what is impacting these seniors, there are Medicaid cuts, so their health care might go away,' she said. 'There are massive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] cuts. Many of these folks are dependent on SNAP for food assistance; that's going away. And now SCSEP is taking away their opportunity to work.' She added: 'We're putting people who really do want to help themselves in a terrible position.' A Labor Department spokeswoman said the agency will 'provide an update soon' on the remaining $307 million in 2025 funding for the national grant recipients. 'The Department has given all SCSEP grantees a one-month period of performance extension, so that if grantees have funding available from their Program Year 2024 grant, they can still use these funds to continue program operations,' Christine Feroli, a Labor Department spokeswoman, wrote via email to CNN. 'The Employment and Training Administration is preparing to award grants shortly after state and territorial grantees submit their required budget documents. The department will support grantees in their operations and services to participants.' Organizations such as the National Asian Center on Aging are sounding the alarm over the funding delays. 'This funding delay is not just a bureaucratic issue, it's a crisis for tens of thousands of older adults who depend on SCSEP to survive,' Clayton Fong, president and CEO of the organization that provides employment programs and caregiving services for older adults, said in a statement earlier this month. In an emailed statement to CNN, Fong called on the Labor Department to fully fund the program to support a 'meaningful pathway to economic stability' for low-income seniors. 'SCSEP is a job training program that restores dignity and a sense of purpose to seniors who want to continue working but are often overlooked in the workforce,' Fong said. 'This funding pause has painful consequences for jobseekers who are trying to build skills and take care of themselves and their families.' Fong's organization has furloughed more than 800 senior workers. At Goodwill Industries, more than 400 program participants were placed on leave of absence status; and if funds are not released by July 31, additional furloughs could impact more than 1,500 of its older workers, the nonprofit said in an emailed statement to CNN. 'Goodwill is urging the Department of Labor to quickly provide the allocations needed for this important program to continue and calls upon Congress to continue to invest in SCSEP, providing essential support for older workers,' according to the statement.
Globe and Mail
17-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Retail Sales Increased More Than Expected
The biggest day of the week for economic reports and Q2 earnings is upon us. In fact, there is so much data in front of us, we should be able to fill this column with just the numbers. Pre-market futures were mixed but are now positive across the board: +30 points on the Dow, +10 on the S&P 500 and +70 points on the Nasdaq. Bond yields continue to creep up: +4.49% on the 10-year, +3.94% on the 2-year and +5.04% on the 30-year yield. A Cavalcade of Economic Results: Jobless Claims Healthy Starting as we do most Thursday mornings, Initial Jobless Claims are out: down for the fifth week in a row from near-term highs, 221K new jobless claims are the lowest we've seen since mid-April, far below the 234K estimate and well off the June high of 250K. What looked on the graph to be a steady incline of new jobless claims through the first half of the year has now shifted downward in a big way. This is very strong news for the labor market. Continuing Claims, on the other hand, ticked up slightly once again: 1.956 million, from 1.954 million the prior week (these numbers are reported a week in arrears from Initial Claims), remaining just shy of the psychological 2 million mark, where we haven't been since late 2021. This is the eighth straight week above 1.9 million longer-term jobless claims, and the 9th of the last 12. Yet with new claims pitching downward as they are, perhaps we'll postpone this reunion with 2 million claims for a longer time. Retail Sales Robust for June Advanced Retail Sales for June ('advanced,' meaning subject to revision in a couple weeks) tripled expectations this morning to +0.6%, turning around in a startling manner from -0.9% reported for May. This is the second-highest Retail Sales print of 2025 since March posted +1.5%; in fact, these are the only two positive months of the year so far. Beneath the headline, everything came in ahead of expectations, as well: ex-Autos reached +0.5%, ex-Autos & Gasoline +0.6%, and the Control number — which gets fed up the food chain of economic data such as Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the (current) Fed's preferred metric on inflation — is +0.5%. This equals March's +0.5% Control number, as well. Import & Export Prices Moderate More good news: Import Prices came in lower than expected: +0.1%, but up from a big downward revision of -0.4% of the previous month. Ex-petrol (fuel), this number moderates further, to 0.0%. Year-over-year Import Prices have now swung to a negative -0.2% from an anticipated +0.3%. More easing on imported goods — counter to expectations. Export Prices month over month came in at +0.5%, the highest level since pre-tariff pull-forwards in February, whereas year over year we're at the highest level since January: +2.8%. Any time we can see import prices moderate but exports improve, that's got to be a good (near-term) sign for the domestic economy. Philly Fed Blossoms to Start the Summer Another metric posting its first positive month since March, the Philly Fed manufacturing survey, sprung ahead to 15.9 in June, up strongly from the -4 posted for May. In fact, this is the highest print since February's 18.0, and provides a positive narrative for regional manufacturing in the region of the sixth-largest city in the U.S. GE Outpaces Estimates in Q2 Earnings GE Aerospace (GE), a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated stock going into this morning's earnings report, soundly beat Q2 estimates on both top and bottom lines this morning: earnings of $1.66 per share was well ahead of the projected $1.43 and the $1.20 per share reported in the year-ago quarter, for a positive surprise of +16%. Revenues of $10.15 billion beat estimates by +5.12%. Shares are up +1.3% at this hour, now a whopping +60% year to date. Zacks' Research Chief Picks Stock Most Likely to "At Least Double" Our experts have revealed their Top 5 recommendations with money-doubling potential – and Director of Research Sheraz Mian believes one is superior to the others. Of course, all our picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier recommendations like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%. See Our Top Stock to Double (Plus 4 Runners Up) >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report GE Aerospace (GE): Free Stock Analysis Report
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Unemployment slightly rises in Maritimes
Atlantic Watch All three Maritime provinces saw a slight rise in unemployment, according to Statistics Canada.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
CTV National News: What is fueling job creation in Canada amid economic uncertainty?
Watch Job creation in Canada was up in June, the first substantial bump the country has seen since the start of 2025. Kamil Karamali looks into the numbers.
Wall Street Journal
11-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Mortgage Rates Today, July 11, 2025: 30-Year Rates Drop to 6.72%
Mortgage rates are unchanged and still under 7%. Today's national average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.74%, according to Bankrate. If you choose a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate is 5.94%. What lies ahead for interest rates remains unclear. While the U.S. added 147,000 jobs in June and unemployment dipped to 4.1%, analysts see small causes for concern. Tariff worries paused hiring in sectors like manufacturing as many companies entered 'no hire, no fire' mode while they wait to see what happens. The unemployment drop was also attributed to a decrease in the number of people looking for work in a challenging job market. Notes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting revealed that a majority of the policymakers support resuming rate cuts this year, though only two saw reason to reduce the rate at this month's meeting. In addition, the meeting notes also indicated that officials saw elevated risks of a weaker labor market and high inflation resulting from tariff uncertainty. Top mortgage rates today Current mortgage rates are up and higher than they were seven days ago and in early 2025, when the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached above 7%. Even though Federal Reserve policy doesn't directly impact today's mortgage rates, they have been easing since the Fed began cutting rates in late 2024. Mortgage rates change regularly, so compare offers and consider the personal and market factors that influence your quoted mortgage rate.
