Power players: Energy industry leaders say that Republicans’ electoral gains in Congress on Tuesday prove that supporting oil and gas development is a winning political strategy. “One thing is abundantly clear: In the 2014 election cycle, energy was the clear winner,” says American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard. “In race after race, voters from all regions of our nation and both political parties voted for pro-development, true all-of-the-above energy policies.” FuelFix.com has the full story.
Shoulder to the wheel: U.S. workers’ productivity increased in the July-September period at a slower pace than in the previous quarter while labor costs accelerated but still remained at an extremely low level. Productivity, measured as the amount of output per hour of work, rose at a 2% annual rate in the third quarter after a 2.9% gain in the second quarter, the Labor Department says in a report released this morning. The Associated Press has the full story.
The lowdown: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, in the latest sign of tightening labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended Nov. 1, the Labor Department reports. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,250 to 279,000—the lowest reading since April 2000. Reuters has the full story.
