Economy

The pandemic makes it all but impossible to predict how much will be spent during the most crucial time of the year for most retailers, or whether people will spend at all. The only safe bet is that e-commerce spending, already popular, is about to become more so. Predicting how …

Yes, temporary retail jobs will be available this holiday season, but COVID-19 makes it difficult to predict how many. Look for a slowdown compared with last year. Last year, U.S, retailers added 702,000 workers to assist with the holiday season. That was a 12.2 percent increase from 2018, when the …

Inland manufacturing bounced back in September, temporarily pushing aside two consecutive months of dreadful performance. The two-county region’s purchasing managers index last month was 53.4, well above the 47 recorded among Riverside and San Bernardino County manufacturers in August, according to the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at …

Business activity in Riverside and San Bernardino counties fell 26.5 percent during the second quarter of 2020. The third quarter will probably be better, but a quick jobs recovery isn’t expected, according to several experts. Let’s hope this is as bad as it gets. After a slight drop in the …

The Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector perked up last month, but not quite enough to put it in growth mode. The region’s purchasing managers index was 47 in August, up from 42.9 in July but three below the 50 benchmark that determines if manufacturing in the region is expanding or contracting, …

California employers added 140,400 non-agricultural jobs in July, as the state appears to be making a slow improvement from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state’s unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent, down 1.6 percent from June but well above the four percent of July 2019, according to data …