Cut to food stamps

Food stamp benefits will be cut, starting last Friday.

The cuts, totaling $5 billion, will mean less money for groceries for millions of people who rely on food stamps. It's a tough time to have less food on the table, just a few weeks before the start of the holiday season.

Congress has the power to halt the cutback. However, experts say it's highly unlikely at a time when Republicans are calling for even more drastic cuts to food stamps.

Food stamp benefits were bumped up in the midst of the recession. The temporary provision expired Nov. 1.

READ MORE:  http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/25/news/economy/food-stamp-cuts/index.html?iid=s_mpm

Most Americans accumulating debt faster than they’re saving for retirement

A majority of Americans with 401(k)-type savings accounts are accumulating debt faster than they are setting aside money for retirement, further undermining the nation’s troubled system for old-age saving, a new report has found.

Three in five workers with defined contribution accounts are “debt savers,” according to the report released Thursday, meaning their increasing mortgages, credit card balances and installment loans are outpacing the amount of money they are able to save for retirement.

The imbalance is expanding even as policymakers are encouraging people to set aside more by offering generous tax breaks and automatically enrolling workers in retirement accounts that in some cases automatically escalate the amount of money over time.

Currently, workers with retirement savings accounts put aside more than 11 percent of their pay for retirement — 5 percent in their own accounts, and 6.2 percent in Social Security.

READ MORE:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/many-americans-accumulating-debt-faster-than-theyre-saving-for-retirement/2013/10/23/b7a9c85e-3b3e-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_print.html

In more homes, the roof overhead is rented

In the aftermath of a historic housing bust, rented single-family homes are on the rise in communities from coast to coast.

At least a fifth of all occupied single-family homes were rentals last year in 32 of the nation's top metropolitan regions, according to a USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. That's up from seven metros in 2006.

Rates: National average on 30-year mortgage falls to 4.5%

The growth reflects changes brought by the housing boom and bust and the enduring financial hardships imposed by the recession. Millions of homeowners lost homes to foreclosure and were forced to become renters, while others delayed homeownership.

READ MORE:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/20/single-family-homes-turned-rentals/2939243/

Youth Unemployment: 15 Percent Of American Youth Out Of School And Work, Study Finds

WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released Monday.

That's almost 15 percent of those aged 16 to 24 who have neither desk nor job, according to The Opportunity Nation coalition, which wrote the report.

Other studies have shown that idle young adults are missing out on a window to build skills they will need later in life or use the knowledge they acquired in college. Without those experiences, they are less likely to command higher salaries and more likely to be an economic drain on their communities.

"This is not a group that we can write off. They just need a chance," said Mark Edwards, executive director of the coalition of businesses, advocacy groups, policy experts and nonprofit organizations dedicated to increasing economic mobility. "The tendency is to see them as lost souls and see them as unsavable. They are not."

But changing the dynamic is not going to be easy.

READ MORE:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/youth-unemployment_n_4134358.html

White House sees “deterioration” in Oct. labor market signs

Forget September's jobs report; Jason Furman, chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, is already worried about October.

In an interview Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Furman cited "solid progress" in the U.S. job market but admitted economic growth could be stronger.

"We would like to see private-sector job growth strengthening at a time like this," Furman said. "There's no question that things like the sequester, brinkmanship, all of that are getting in the way of this happening."
In September, 148,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy, missing expectations of 180,000. The unemployment rate fell 1 percentage point to 7.2 percent, its lowest rate since November 2008.

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101132900

Security check now starts long before you fly

The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information.


While the agency says that the goal is to streamline the security procedures for millions of passengers who pose no risk, the new measures give the government greater authority to use travelers' data for domestic airport screenings. Previously that level of scrutiny applied only to individuals entering the United States.

The prescreening, some of which is already taking place, is described in documents the T.S.A. released to comply with government regulations about the collection and use of individuals' data, but the details of the program have not been publicly announced.

READ MORE: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101132836

Murky jobs picture likely to keep Fed on hold

The Fed is expected to keep easing at full throttle well into next year, after September's tepid jobs report showed the impact of a painfully slow growing economy on employment.

The economy added 148,000 nonfarm payrolls, compared with expectations for 180,000, and a revised 193,000 in August. The jobless rate fell to 7.2 percent, from 7.3 percent.

The report, delayed by the government shutdown and released Tuesday morning, showed surprisingly low growth in the private sector of just 129,000 jobs and a weakening trend in the past several months. While August jobs were revised to 193,000 from 169,000, the July report was revised down to 89,000 from 104,000.

READ MORE:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101132507