Retailers misjudge shopper priorities, loyalties amid rising costs, said Rakuten report
More than half of consumers say they plan to prioritize products with the lowest prices when shopping in the coming months, while only 5% of retailers think shoppers will choose to trade down to lower quality products and less expensive brands.
Economy healthy but more work is needed, Barkin says
The U.S. economy is showing signs of health, but bringing down inflation remains necessary, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin said Thursday during the 2024 Financial Forecast event co-hosted in Richmond by the Virginia Bankers Association and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Economic conditions have improved but haven’t quite settled back to […]
Barkin: Inflation improving but not yet low enough
With inflation decreasing but still not at its 2% target, the Federal Reserve still needs “to stay on the case,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin said Thursday at a conference hosted in Richmond by the Virginia Bankers Association and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Inflation continued to slow in December […]
Belabored shortages
Faced with a shortage of drivers, Trevor Dunlap had to find a new way to recruit interested candidates for his Chesapeake-based trucking and warehousing companies, Givens Transportation Inc. and Givens Inc. “It’s very challenging to find qualified people and then be able to retain them,” he says, “and the wages we’re paying are substantially higher […]
Richmond Fed: Va. gained 8,000 jobs in Sept.
Virginia employers added 8,000 net jobs in September, marking the first month in which total employment has exceeded pre-pandemic levels, representatives from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said Friday. While that’s good news, job recovery continues to be uneven across sectors, with employment in the transportation and warehousing sector exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 10.5% […[...]
Fifth District economy little changed since August, Fed says
The economy in the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District (a multistate region including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland) has been largely unchanged since August, according to the latest edition of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released Wednesday. Published eight times per year, the Beige Book is based on anecdotal information about economic […[...]
Va. layoffs and discharges down in June
Virginia companies put the brakes on layoffs in June, even as workers continued to seek new opportunities, refueling the Great Resignation. Virginia had 28,000 layoffs and discharges in June, a decrease of 13,000 from May, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data released last week. That marked […]