KPBS anchor Ebone Monet and BottomLine Marketing co-founder and SDSU marketing lecturer Miro Copic discuss some of the week’s top business stories.
Q: The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the 2018-2019 job numbers report was wrong. Now, it's revised down the numbers by more than 500,000 jobs. Some people think that this revised job numbers actually show that it's a sign of a weaker economy or possibly a recession. What does it tell you?
RELATED: U.S. created 501,000 fewer jobs since 2018 than previously reported, new figures show
A: It certainly tells us that the economy is not as robust as it was. This is the biggest revision since the waning days of the Great Recession, and that’s because the job market was extraordinarily volatile. We've had a very robust job market with low unemployment now for the better part of five years. This is kind of a shock. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, just to give everyone context, they talked to 700,000 employers across the country to get these job numbers every month, but twice a year they audit the job numbers against the tax returns of how many people either these firms hire or fire to get a revision. And to have this kind of change is very, very sizable.
So what it shows is that the tax cuts, for example, did not result in greater employment which was an intended outcome. The tax cuts have not helped businesses invest in their business. A lot of that money went to stock buybacks or potentially higher dividends. On a positive note, this means that probably the wage numbers which have kind of been at around 3% growth are probably actually higher because a lot fewer jobs are out there. There's higher wage growth which explains why consumers have been confident. They've been driving the expansion. That's been a big thing for the last several months while businesses have been retrenching.
Q: Meanwhile, San Diego's a sports arena may be getting a new operator. What can you tell us about the Anaheim Arena Management company and its bid?
RELATED: San Diego selects new operator for aging sports arena
A:The city put up the management of the arena for bid as they would normally do. The Hahn family has been operating this since 1991, along with AEG. They give about $800,000 in fees to the city of San Diego. The city of San Diego is looking to redevelop that whole Midway District, and they're looking for greater income from the operator. The Anaheim Arena Management owns the Ducks, in Anaheim, but also they own the Gulls here. So they have a vested interest. They're looking to improve the user experience and the guest experience. So the bid is going to be much higher than the $800,000 that the current team provides. But also it requires city council approval. Hanh and AEG have said until that time, which is next May when the transition occurs, they're gonna continue to operate and they're going to try to convince the city council they've made the wrong choice.
