by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, Overseas, Private Jobs, World
Washington : The United States’ headline unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 per cent in July, a month in which nonfarm payrolls in the world’s largest economy rose by 157,000, the Labour Department said on Friday.
The US economy remains close to full employment even though the number of jobs added last month was below the 195,000 forecast by economists, Efe reported.
US employment has risen for 94 consecutive months, the longest jobs-expansion streak on record.
The unemployment rate has now dipped below 4 percent for the third time this year.
The jobless rate unexpectedly climbed to 4 percent in June – up from 3.8 per cent in May, the lowest level since 2000 – mainly because more people were actively looking for work.
Average hourly wages for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose in July by $0.07 to $27.05; average hourly earnings climbed 2.7 percent relative to July 2017, and economists expect labour costs to keep rising.
The US labour force participation rate (the share of the population 16 years and older either working or seeking work), which peaked at 67.1 percent in 2000, remained unchanged from the previous month at 62.9 percent.
“The unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 per cent. This is only the eighth time that the monthly unemployment rate has fallen below 4.0 per cent since 1970, and three of those months happened under President (Donald) Trump in 2018,” US Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta said in a statement on the July jobs report.
“There is a record 156 million people in the labour force. Since President Trump’s election, more than 1 million prime-age people joined or rejoined the labor force. For the second consecutive month, the unemployment rate for Hispanics reached a record low,” the statement added.
Following this latest solid jobs report, it remains likely that the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates two more times in 2018.
The Fed has already raised its federal-funds rate twice this year, with that benchmark rate currently set at a range of between 1.75 per cent and 2 per cent.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Bhaswati Mukherjee,
Against the background of intense speculation about US President Donald Trumps growing indifference to Indias security needs and the landmark India-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement came the dramatic announcement of the “Tier 1 waiver” for India. This exception from the export control regime will allow the US to export sensitive technology to India without individual licences or approval from Congress, where anti-India interest groups used to hold them up through filibusters.
The waiver is historic and marks a new stage in the India-US strategic partnership. No other country in the region has ever been granted such a waiver, normally allowed only for the US’s NATO partners or key allies like Japan and South Korea. Only 36 nations currently have this status. It also brings India one step closer to full NSG membership, a goal so tantalizingly close and yet denied because of Chinese intransigence and insistence on linking it with Pakistan’s membership.
Commonly referred to as Tier-1 of the US Department of Commerce’s Strategic Trade Authorisation licence exception, the waiver will not only ensure a much required high-tech upgrade for India’s lagging defence industry but will also promote the ‘Make in India’ initiative. It will bring US defence companies for the first time into India. The competition with other foreign companies already in India, including from France and Russia, will eventually translate into a win-win situation for the country.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described it as a “very important change” in India’s status, noting that “US companies will be able to more efficiently export a much wider range of products to Indian high technology and military customers. India’s new status will benefit US manufacturers while continuing to protect our national security”. Also, he added that “it finally reflects India’s status as a major defence partner of the US”.
Ross said this new designation reflects India’s membership in three of the four multilateral export control regimes, as well the development of its national export control system. He asserted that US companies will be able to more efficiently export a much wider range of products to Indian high technology and military customers. He said India’s new status will benefit US manufacturers while continuing to protect its national security.
Speaking at a panel discussion of the first Indo-Pacific Business Forum organised by the US Chambers of Commerce, Indian Ambassador Navtej Sarna highlighted that the Trump administration’s decision acknowledges the security as well as economic relationship between the world’s two largest democracies and boosts their defence partnership in a big way.
“It is a sign of trust not only in the relationship but also in India’s capabilities as a valued economic and as security partner. It presupposes that India has the multilateral export control regime in place, which would allow the transfer of more sensitive defence technologies and dual-use technologies to India and without the risk of any proliferation,” Sarna noted.
India is a member of three of the four international export control regimes including the Australia Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). These developments, along with the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with US, have also strengthened India’s case for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. NSG membership is now vital for India since this group controls export and import of high-grade nuclear related technology. India has been repeatedly checkmated by the Chinese veto, cleverly disguised in the plea of equating India and Pakistan’s pending membership applications.
In September 2008, the NSG had approved an exemption allowing its members to conduct nuclear trade with India. Following this, India signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Canada, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia and Australia. India continues to participate in international nuclear trade. In arguing for NSG membership, India has portrayed itself as a responsible nuclear power, pointing to its positive record on non-proliferation and consistent support for complete nuclear disarmament.
Ultimately, the Trump administration has given a timely and important signal that India remains a vital strategic partner in the region. Washington demonstrated through the waiver for India (which remains outside the NPT regime) that the country is a vital ally in maintaining international peace and security.
This, in turn, expands India’s strategic space, enabling it to leverage its enhanced relationship with the US in order to upgrade its relations with other partners and bringing closer its future NSG membership. It puts India in a category of major global players and New Delhi as an indispensable destination for leaders across the globe.
(The author is a retired Indian ambassador. The article is through special arrangement with South Asia Monitor)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology, World
Washington : Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is among the nine astronauts named by NASA on Friday for its first human spaceflight programme from the US soil since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
The astronauts will fly on the spacecraft developed by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and global aviation firm Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, as part of the US space agency’s Commercial Crew programme to send humans to the ISS on private US spacecraft.
Williams has been named for the Boeing programme to the ISS — the first test flight scheduled to take place in the middle of 2019.
“For the first time since 2011, we are on the brink of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Born in Euclid (Ohio), Williams came to NASA from the Navy where she was a test pilot and rose to the rank of captain before retiring.
Since her selection as an astronaut in 1998, she has spent 322 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for Expeditions 14/15 and Expeditions 32/33, commanded the space station and performed seven spacewalks, the US space agency said in a statement.
“The men and women we assign to these first flights are at the forefront of this exciting new time for human spaceflight,” said Mark Geyer, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“It will be thrilling to see our astronauts lift off from American soil, and we can’t wait to see them aboard the ISS,” he added.
In 2014, Boeing and SpaceX were awarded a combined $6.8 billion in contracts from NASA to develop spacecraft capable of flying crews to the space station.
SpaceX is targeting November 2018 for Crew Dragon’s first uncrewed demonstration mission (Demo-1), three months later than the previous schedule released by NASA early this year.
The crewed demonstration flight, with two astronauts on board, will follow in April 2019, four months later than previously announced.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, on the other hand, will likely perform two crucial test flights next year, instead of this year as planned.
Each test flight will provide data on the performance of the rockets, spacecraft, ground systems, and operations to ensure the systems are safe to fly astronauts.
The crew for Boeing’s Crew Flight Test and SpaceX’s Demo-2 flights will each include at least a flight commander and pilot aboard to test out the systems.
After successful completion of the flight tests with crew, NASA will review flight data to verify that the systems meet the agency’s safety and performance certification requirements and are ready to begin regular servicing missions to the space station, the US space agency said.
Additional crew members will be assigned by NASA’s international partners at a later date.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : US President Donald Trump announced that he was willing to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani without preconditions and “whenever they want”, a sharp departure from his threats against Tehran last week.
“I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” Trump said on Monday during a joint news conference at the White House alongside Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
“I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet. I’m ready to meet whenever they want to.
“No preconditions… They want to meet, I’ll meet, whenever they want,” the President added.
Trump also appeared to hedge the possibility of a meeting on an ability to “work something out that’s meaningful”.
Hamid Aboutalebi, an adviser to President Rouhani, tweeted in response to Trump that “returning to the nuclear deal” and “respecting the Iranian nation’s rights” would pave way for talks, reports the BBC.
Such a meeting would be the first between US and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Monday’s olive branch from Trump marks an abrupt shift in tone. The President has been a strident critic of Iran, threatening Tehran with “consequences” on July 22, CNN reported.
The President and his senior officials have ramped up the rhetoric against Tehran, promising to “crush” its economy with international sanctions and accusing it of fomenting terrorism and regional instability, while telling the country’s citizens that their leaders are corrupt.
Washington is preparing to re-impose sanctions on Tehran within days – despite objections from the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, which also signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and its compliance with the deal has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has said Iran is honouring its commitments.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Beijing : Farmers in the US are paying the price President Dona;d Trump’s trade tactics, China said on Thursday.
Trump posted a tweet on Wednesday alleging that China was attacking the US agricultural sector.
“US farmers are paying for the bullying of their government,” Efe quoted China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang as saying at a press conference on Thursday.
Geng’s statement came after Trump had accused Beijing on Wednesday of hurting US farmers for imposing tariffs on US agricultural products – particularly soybeans – worth $34 billion.
These measures were in response to the first set of tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese imports – especially technological goods – for the same amount.
Geng reminded that in June 2017 the two sides reached an agreement regarding beef exports from the US to China, and in May this year, the two countries held significant talks in Washington on trade issues with China committing to increasing agricultural imports.
“These agreements could have gone well; regrettably it didn’t turn out that well because of US unilateralism and trade protectionism. (The US) is bent on igniting a trade war with China,” Geng said.
He added that China has been a major buyer of US agricultural products for many years and bilateral cooperation in agriculture had expanded, bringing tangible benefits to both sides.
Trump’s allegations came a day after the US Department of Agriculture announced a plan worth $12 billion to compensate farmers affected by Chinese tariffs, confirming the adverse effect of the trade war for producers.
“China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love & respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage of the US. They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We were being nice – until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year,” Trump tweeted.
—IANS
