(AP) WASHINGTON – A private survey shows U.S. businesses kept hiring at a modest pace in July, suggesting the job market could be improving after three sluggish months.

Payroll provider ADP said Wednesday that businesses added 163,000 jobs last month. That’s slightly below a revised total of 172,000 jobs it reported for June.

The report only covers hiring in the private sector and excludes government job growth. The Labor Department will offer a more complete picture of July hiring on Friday.

The ADP survey offered some hope that hiring is picking up. But it has often deviated sharply from the government report. In June, the Labor Department said employers added just 80,000 jobs, less than half the figure reported by ADP.

The government’s report is expected to show employers added 100,000 jobs in July, according to survey of economists by FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 8.2 percent.

The hiring picture for July is a bit cloudier than usual. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits, generally considered a reliable gauge, have been distorted by seasonal adjustment issues. The government has had trouble accounting for temporary summer shutdowns in the auto industry, which are used to retool plants for new models.

The adjustments have been difficult this year because some automakers skipped the shutdowns to keep up with stronger sales, resulting in fewer temporary layoffs.

As a result, weekly applications for unemployment aid have been volatile. The Labor Department said last week that they fell 35,000 to 353,000. But that followed an increase of a similar size the previous week.

The economy isn’t growing fast enough to spur much job growth. It expanded at a paltry 1.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from a 2 percent pace in the first quarter.

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By Farah Master and Sue Zeidler

HONG KONG/LOS ANGELES |
Wed Aug 1, 2012 2:46am EDT

HONG KONG/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Macau government has launched an official investigation into Sands China, owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, after the company transferred documents linked to a wrongful dismissal case to the United States from Macau.

It is the latest twist in a saga that has become a firestorm for the casino mogul, who owns casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore and is the most active donor in U.S. Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Adelson’s lawyers are due to face an August 30 hearing in the United States, where District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzales will decide whether Las Vegas Sands Corp withheld financial documents in a case in which the 78-year-old is accused of having personally approved of prostitution at the company’s casino in China’s special administrative region of Macau.

Sands, the biggest casino operator in Macau by market value, announced the Macau investigation on Wednesday in a voluntary notice. It did not provide further comment on the probe.

The closely watched case began in October 2010 as a wrongful termination suit filed by Steven Jacobs, who was fired in July 2010 from his job as chief executive officer of Sands China Ltd, Sands’ Macau subsidiary.

Jacobs claims in court documents that he was wrongfully dismissed after clashing with Adelson over what Jacobs alleged was improper and illegal conduct, including allowing prostitution and hiding the use of unauthorized construction workers for the Sands China casino.

His suit triggered a federal investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into its Macau operations.

Sands lawyers acknowledged to Judge Gonzales in June that they were in possession of documents from Jacobs’ computer hard drive, after having previously said that the information could not be produced without violating Macau data protection laws.

Last week, the nonprofit investigative-journalism organization ProPublica reported that Sands had transferred these documents to the United States from Macau, citing a court filing and a deposition of Sands Assistant General Counsel Michael Kostrinsky.

Sands lawyers now say, according to a filing, that the documents were transported “in error” on a hard disk to the casino’s deputy general counsel in the U.S. in November 2010 without notifying Macau authorities.

The charges cast a harsh light on Adelson, the largest individual donor to U.S. Republican candidates in 2012 campaigns. Adelson and his wife recently gave $10 million to the Restore Our Future, a super PAC to support Romney’s presidential bid.

The company denies all the charges made by Jacobs. “These questions will be answered in due course in the most appropriate forum — namely the courtroom,” said Sands spokesman Ron Reese.

In March 2011, Las Vegas Sands also said it was being investigated by U.S. authorities for potential breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits bribes to foreign officials by U.S. companies.

Shares in Sands China fell 3 percent after the market opened in Hong Kong on Wednesday but erased gains to trade down 1 percent ahead by midday.

GROWTH SLOWING

The latest skirmish between Jacobs and Adelson and the Macau government investigation comes at a time when growth is sharply slowing in the world’s largest gambling destination, dealing a further blow to Adelson’s casino behemoth.

Las Vegas Sands’ second quarter earnings released last week missed forecasts, hit by lower profits at its Asian properties that had previously been resilient in offsetting broader economic malaise.

Macau on Wednesday said gambling revenues inched up 1.5 percent in July from a year earlier, the slowest growth since the financial crisis in 2009 as a tropical storm reduced visitor numbers, compounding subdued demand from Chinese gamblers.

The August hearing in the U.S. could have significant ramifications for Sands and Adelson, ranging from a fine to a favorable ruling for Jacobs on certain issues. The former employee is seeking millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and stock options.

“In general, a sanctions hearing can be a big deal in this context,” said Eli Richardson, a lawyer with Bass, Berry Sims, who specializes in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “The court could decide to rule in the plaintiff’s favor just because the defendant did not produce what it should have produced.”

Jacobs has also alleged he was fired because he objected to illegal demands made by Adelson, such as one involving the hiring of Macau lawyer, Leonel Alves, a Macau public official.

Hiring Alves, who was listed as Sands China’s counsel for more than a year, could have put the company in violation of the FCPA, Jacobs claimed. Paying a public official in any capacity raises questions of bribery by U.S. companies abroad.

Adelson is also embroiled in other court battles, including one in Macau where he is being sued by Asian American Entertainment, a former business partner who is a Taiwanese businessman known as Marshall Hao.

(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and Sue Zeidler in Los Angeles; Editing by Ronald Grover, Chris Gallagher and Jeremy Laurence)

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• Paved with good intentions

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
defended the hiring of his two rejected state Supreme Court
nominees for government jobs, saying experience, not patronage,
got them their new positions.

Bruce Harris, who would have been the state’s first openly
gay justice, was named general counsel of the New Jersey
Turnpike Authority in a 6-0 board vote today, said Tom Feeney,
an agency spokesman. Phillip Kwon, who would have been the first
Asian-American to serve, began yesterday as first deputy general
counsel for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said
Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the bi-state agency.

“The Port Authority is lucky to have him — the same with
Bruce Harris,” Christie, 49, a first-term Republican, told
reporters today in Hackensack.

Harris, 61, is a finance attorney and the Republican mayor
of Chatham. Kwon, 45, of Closter, had been New Jersey’s first
assistant attorney general and was previously a federal
prosecutor. Both were rejected for the high court by Democrats,
who control both houses of the Legislature.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-6 against Kwon on
March 22 after Democrats questioned a $160,000 payment his
family made to settle a U.S. civil lawsuit over cash deposits
from their liquor store.

The panel voted the same away against Harris’s nomination
on May 31. An advocate of gay marriage, Harris said during the
hearing that he would remove himself from the issue if it came
before the court.

“It’s not like it’s an old buddy that I’m putting into a
job,” Christie said of Harris. “This is a guy I recently met
and was impressed with. He’s an outstanding lawyer and he will
do a great job at the Turnpike.”

Harris’s new position, which pays $165,000 a year, had been
vacant “for well over a year,” Feeney said in a telephone
interview. Coleman, in a telephone interview, said he didn’t
know Kwon’s salary.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Elise Young in Trenton at
eyoung30@bloomberg.net;
Terrence Dopp in Trenton at
tdopp@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Merelman at
smerelman@bloomberg.net

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By Anjali Athavaley

New York has more than recovered the private sector jobs it lost in the recession, but the state saw a steeper decline in public sector jobs than the nation, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, authored by Rutgers University researchers, examined the percentage of private sector job losses that have been recovered as of June 2012. New York, which gained 343,400 private sector jobs since  December 2009, more than made up for the number of jobs it lost. The nation, meanwhile, recovered roughly half the private-sector jobs it lost.

Both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have touted private-sector job gains in the state and city. “New York’s recovery has been a strong one,” said Joseph J. Seneca, a Rutgers professor and co-author of the report. “The fear was New York was just going to be devastated, but the monetary policy by the [Federal Reserve] prevented a more significant loss in the finance sector.”

But the state saw a steeper decline in public sector jobs, or those in government, according to the report. New York lost 83,900 jobs since its peak in July 2009, a decline of 5.9%. That compares with 3.4% for the nation. “It’s a significant contraction,” he said.

The paper illustrates how New York’s job market has been a mixed bag. The state’s unemployment rate has been rising even though jobs are being added. And the gains are concentrated in certain sectors—like business and professional services—more than others.

In general, New York has fared better than other states. “This report is a reminder of how far we fell,” Mr. Seneca said. But he noted, “Future progress depends on the national economy strengthening.”

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The feds want to learn everything Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson for the Apple co-founder’s biography.

(Credit:
Courtesy of Patrice Gilbert)

A federal district judge has ruled that Steve Jobs biographer doesn’t have to comply with a subpoena served on by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its antitrust suit against Apple and some of the country’s largest book publishers.

Publishers Weekly, a trade publication, reported last week that the DOJ in May served a subpoena on Walter Isaacson, a former editor of Time Magazine and the author of the best-selling biography on the late Apple co-founder. The book, which was published by Simon Schuster (owned by CBS, parent company of CNET), is a vital part of the government’s case, DOJ attorneys contend.

Denise Cote, the federal district court judge presiding over the case, said that for the time being, Isaacson is off the hook but the government can renew its request “when it can show that it meets the test for disclosure of nonconfidential material.”

This is important because one of Jobs’ statements included in Isaacson’s book is a smoking gun, according to the government. DOJ lawyers want to see what else Jobs may have said.

Anyone reading CNET has likely seen the statement but I’ll add it again:

Amazon screwed it up. It paid the wholesale price for some books, but started selling them below cost at $9.99. The publishers hated that — they thought it would trash their ability to sell hard-cover books at $28. So before Apple even got on the scene, some booksellers were starting to withhold books from Amazon.

So we told the publishers, ‘We’ll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30 percent, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want, anyway.’ But we also asked for a guarantee that if anybody else is selling the books cheaper than we are, then we can sell them at the lower price too.

So they went to Amazon and said, ‘You’re going to sign an agency contract, or we’re not going to give you the books.’…Given the situation that existed, what was best for us was to do this Aikido move and end up with the agency model. And we pulled it off.

Roger Myers, an attorney with the firm Bryan Cave and expert on First Amendment law, said he thinks Isaacson is a long way from being home free. He says there’s different levels of confidential material.

Material provided to journalists or news reporters on the condition that their anonymity be protected would be considered highly confidential.

That would be tough to get at. But things begin to change when you’re talking about a source that isn’t anonymous. If the government continues to press the issue, the judge would likely have to ask why wasn’t the material included in Jobs’ biography, Myers said.

Did Jobs provide Isaacson some of the information on a confidential basis? Or did the material get left out simply because Isaacson chose not include it for editorial reasons? In the latter situation, the government’s lawyers could argue that this isn’t a strong enough reason to prevent them from obtaining the material.

In the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, that wouldn’t matter because material that goes unpublished is protected under the reporter’s privilege even if provided on a non confidential basis, Myers said. But Cote is based in New York and she would apply the test set down by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Myers said he doesn’t believe it offers as much protection.

“What she seems to be saying is that she doesn’t think the material is protected or that it has limited protection,” Myers said.

He said he could think of several strategies that the government could attempt to get at Isaacson’s notes and tapes.

The feds could depose Isaacson and ask him what did Jobs give him that was confidential or ask him why the information wasn’t included in the book, Myers said. Or, the government could ask the judge to personally review the information to determine if it meets the standards for being confidential material.

I wanted to hear whether the DOJ plans to continue going after Isaacson’s materials but I haven’t heard back from representatives there. When I do, I’ll update.

Meanwhile, Isaacson’s book became an issue in an unrelated case.

Numerous potential jurors in the patent court case between Apple and Samsung, which kicked off earlier today in San Jose, Calif., noted that they had read Isaacson’s biography.

U.S. District judge Lucy Koh noted that it did not affect their ability to be a juror, unless it somehow made them unable to make an impartial decision based on the evidence. That’s despite passages in the book where Jobs is disparaging to Google’s
Android, which runs on many of the accused Samsung devices.

Update 4 p.m. PT:
To include quotes from First amendment lawyer.

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PRINCETON, NJ — Creating good jobs, reducing corruption in the federal government, and reducing the federal budget deficit score highest when Americans rate 12 issues as priorities for the next president to address. Americans assign much less importance to increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and dealing with environmental concerns.

The results are based on a July 19-22 USA Today/Gallup poll. Job creation’s position at the top of the list is consistent with various measures of issue salience or importance Gallup has asked this year. Corruption in government usually ranks as an important issue when it is asked about specifically, though it is not as top-of-mind as jobs or the economy.

In addition to jobs, corruption, and the deficit, Americans also give relatively high priority to dealing with terrorism and other international threats, ensuring the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare, and improving the nation’s public schools.

Obama, Romney Supporters in Accord on Job Creation, Corruption

Supporters of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney likely disagree on how best to address the major issues facing the country, but they both rate job creation and reducing government corruption among their top priorities for the next president.

Romney supporters rate reducing the federal budget deficit as more important than Obama supporters do. In fact, slightly more Romney supporters say reducing the deficit is extremely important (51%) than say creating jobs is (48%).

Likewise, 50% of Obama supporters assign high importance to making healthcare available and affordable, two percentage points more than their rating of any other issue.

Obama and Romney supporters differ most on healthcare, dealing with environmental concerns, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and education. All of these are much higher priorities for Obama supporters than for Romney supporters. The deficit is the only issue that has a large party difference with Romney supporters saying it is more important.

Although there is a large difference in the relative importance of dealing with environmental concerns and increasing taxes on wealthy Americans, these issues are the lowest priorities for both Romney and Obama supporters.

In addition to job creation and corruption, there are relatively small differences in importance for terrorism and setting high moral standards.

Implications

Americans’ to-do list for the president on Jan. 20, 2013 — whether it be Obama or Romney — includes creating good jobs, reducing government corruption, and reducing the federal budget deficit. Supporters of both candidates agree about the importance of jobs and corruption, while the deficit is a higher priority for Romney supporters than Obama supporters. In turn, Obama supporters believe the next president should have healthcare, Social Security and Medicare, and public education among his highest priorities.

Job creation has certainly been and will continue to be a major topic during the remainder of the campaign. And both candidates will surely need to outline their plans for reducing the federal budget deficit. However, it is unclear whether government corruption will become a major issue in the campaign, even though Americans see reducing it as an important goal.

The candidate who Americans think has the better plans on each of these issues will have an advantage. As of now, Americans believe Romney is better able to handle jobs and the deficit than Obama is. Still, the two candidates remain locked in a tight race, with voters’ presidential preferences evenly divided.

Track every angle of the presidential race on Gallup.com’s Election 2012 page.

Sign up to get Election 2012 news stories from Gallup as soon as they are published.

Survey Methods

Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted July 19-22, 2012, with a random sample of 1,030 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

For more details on Gallup’s polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.

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The Queensland Government will slash more than 2,000 jobs from transport and Q-Build.

The latest cuts announced in State Parliament today are expected to take the reduction in public servants numbers since the March election to around 6,700.

Transport Minister Scott Emerson says Translink – the south east Queensland public transport body – will be absorbed into the department.

Mr Emerson has told Parliament the job cuts include 600 positions at Road-Tek, a commercial subsidiary that tenders for road construction and maintenance work.

“There will be targeted staff reductions in corporate, support and Road-Tek roles within the department and Translink of 18 per cent or 1970 full time equivalents,” he said.

Mr Emerson says that equate to almost 2,000 positions and will save $287 million over the next four years.

He says the overhaul of Road-Tek is underway.

“This structure will deliver improved outcomes for Queenslanders whether you’re a business tendering for work, [or] travelling across the state,” Mr Emerson said.

The Government has also announced job cuts at Q-Build.

Premier Campbell Newman says the number of contract and temporary positions at Q-Build will be cut by more than 300 – to 78.

“There will be cuts there, and I’m sorry about that,” Mr Newman said.

“But I say to any hard-working public servant that has lost their job go and look up who the local Labor member was at the time – complain to them.

“These cuts, these savings are vitally important to get the state back on track.”

The Opposition says its heard up to 600 permanent positions could also be slashed from Q-Build.

Late last week the Government said that public servant numbers had fallen by more than 4,400 full-time equivalent positions since the state election.

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Americans care most about job creation and reducing government corruption, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, with backers of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney splitting on the importance of other issues.

Jobs and the economy have remained at the top of many voters’ minds throughout the year, the poll found. Ninety-two percent of adults polled said “creating good jobs” should be an “extremely important” or “very important” priority for the next president, outstripping any other issue.

Reducing corruption in the federal government was extremely or very important to 87 percent of adults, although a much smaller number — 13 percent — called it the country’s “most important” problem in a Gallup poll conducted earlier this month. Reducing the federal budget deficit and addressing international threats such as terrorism were also at the top of voters’ lists. Focusing on environmental concerns like global warming and increasing taxes on the wealthy ranked lowest, polling respectively at 52 and 49 percent.

Some conservatives, including the Washington Examiner‘s Byron York, are pointing to the poll as evidence that Mitt Romney’s focus on economic issues and reducing government corruption makes him more in touch with the electorate than Obama, while the liberal American Prospect argues that Obama has also made job creation the touchstone of his campaign.

Supporters of both candidates were concerned about creating jobs and combating corruption, but had otherwise different priorities. Health care was the top issue for Obama supporters, with half calling the issue extremely important. The president’s backers also prioritized maintaining Social Security and Medicare. In contrast, the top issue among Romney’s supporters was the federal deficit. Raising taxes on the wealthy polled last among both groups.

The survey was conducted using live telephone interviews of 1,030 adults between July 19 and 22. It has a 4 percent margin of error.

Also on HuffPost:

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• Birth Certificate — “Born In The USA”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/obama-birth-certificate-r_n_854248.html” target=”_hplink”strong(April 27, 2011) –/strong/a The White House a href=”http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate” target=”_hplink”released/a President Barack Obama’s “long form” birth certificate, adding documentation to a longstanding discussion over his ability to serve as commander in chief. “We do not have time for this kind of silliness,” Obama said. “We have better stuff to do. I have got better stuff to do. We have got big problems to solve.” (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

• Osama Bin Laden Killed — “Tonight, Tonight”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-dead-killed_n_856091.html” target=”_hplink”strong(May 1, 2011)/strong/a — In a televised address to the nation, Obama announces that Osama bin Laden is dead. His death was the result of a U.S. operation launched today in Abbottabad, Pakistan, against a compound where bin Laden was believed to be hiding. “[T]oday’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people,” Obama proclaimed. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

• Debt Ceiling Deal — “Gold On The Ceiling”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/obama-debt-ceiling-deal-jobs_n_916285.html” target=”_hplink”strong(Aug. 2, 2011) –/strong/a After the Senate passed a bill to raise the debt limit, Obama pleaded with Congress to shift their attention to jobs. “I will urge them to immediately take some steps — bipartisan, common-sense steps — that will make a difference; that will create a climate where businesses can hire, where folks have more money in their pockets to spend, where people who are out of work can find good jobs,” he said. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell — “Don’t Stop Believin’”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/barack-obama-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-statement_n_971662.html” target=”_hplink”strong(Sept. 20, 2011) –/strong/a As the ban on gays serving in the military came to an end, Obama hailed the fresh start, celebrating the fact that “patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love.” (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

• Iraq War To End — “Homeward Bound”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/obama-iraq-troop-withdrawal_n_1024108.html” target=”_hplink”strong(Oct. 21, 2011) –/strong/a Obama announced that all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by 2011, fulfilling a promise that dated back to his campaign. “As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end,” Obama said. “So today I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.” (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

• Singing Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/obama-al-green-apollo-theater_n_1218070.html” target=”_hplink”strong(Jan. 20, 2012) –/strong/a During a fundraiser at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater, Obama delivered a memorable musical message to his donors. With Rev. Al Green in attendance, Obama sang part of Green’s hit song “Let’s Stay Together,” drawing strong applause from the crowd.

• Singing Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/obama-sings-sweet-home-chicago_n_1292576.html” target=”_hplink”strong(Feb. 21, 2012) –/strong/a Days after his Al Green rendition, Obama flexed his vocal chords again with a hometown favorite. The East Room of the White House had its blues fix filled when the president started swinging “Sweet Home Chicago.”

• Gay Marriage — “Can’t Fight This Feeling”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/obama-gay-marriage_n_1503245.html” target=”_hplink”strong(May 9, 2012) –/strong/a In a sit-down interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Obama explained his evolution on the issue, affirming his support for gay marriage. “[A]t a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” he said.

• Immigration — “With Arms Wide Open”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/obama-immigration-order-deportation-dream-act_n_1599658.html
  ” target=”_hplink”strong(June 15, 2012) –/strong/a The Obama administration addressed America’s immigration issue, announcing that it will halt deportations and grant work permits to young individuals eligible for Dream-Act benefits. “They pledge allegiance to our flag,” Obama said. “They are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.”(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• Health Care Reform — “Beautiful Day”

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/supreme-court-health-care-decision_n_1585131.html” target=”_hplink”strong(June 28, 2012) –/strong/a After weeks of speculation that Obama’s signature piece of legislation could be overturned, the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is constitutional. “It should be pretty clear that I didn’t do this because it’s good politics,” a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/obama-health-care-ruling_n_1632953.html” target=”_hplink”Obama said/a. “I did it because it’s good for the country.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a new law that will create an employment council to help Asian-Americans find state government jobs.

Quinn approved legislation Friday that creates the Asian-American Employment Plan Advisory Council. He was joined by leaders and representatives from the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community and the Asian American Policy Network. The governor says the new council will make sure Asian-Americans “have access to opportunities.”

Asian-Americans make up about 5 percent of the Illinois population. They represent about 2.5 percent of state employees.

The council will have 11 unpaid members appointed by the governor.

The bill signing ceremony was in Chicago’s Chinatown.

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CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

While Washington debates whether big government is holding back the economy, it’s worth keeping a couple of facts in mind: Government has been shrinking steadily for two years, and compared to the size of the overall economy, government is actually slightly smaller today than it has been on average in the postwar era.

Here’s a chart showing the annualized percentage change in gross domestic product (blue) and the percentage change in total government spending and investment (red):

Bureau of Economic Analysis, via Haver Analytics

The overall economy has been growing for 12 quarters. Total government spending (federal, state and local), on the other hand, has been falling for eight quarters. That decline has been driven primarily by state and local spending, which has been falling for 11 quarters. Federal spending has fallen for six of the last seven quarters.

In other words, without the drag of shrinking government, the growth rate of the overall economy (which is measured as consumer spending + investment + government spending + net exports) would be faster. That is even before you consider how public layoffs ripple through the private sector as unemployed workers curb their spending.

Indeed, the shrinking government labor force is another factor worth noting when thinking about the role of government in the economy. While President Obama has been pegged as a big-government politician, the total number of government jobs has actually fallen under his presidency. Federal payrolls have risen a little bit, but not enough to fully plug the steady leak of layoffs at the state and local level.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Haver Analytics

Finally, to help you further put the size of government in perspective, consider that government spending relative to the size of the overall economy is actually slightly below its long-term, postwar average.

In the second quarter of this year, government spending (technically called “government consumption expenditures and gross investment”) represented 19.5 percent of the overall economy. Since 1947, the earliest date available, government spending has averaged about 20.2 percent of the economy.

Bureau of Economic Analysis, via Haver Analytics

For context, note that during Reagan’s administration, government spending represented 20.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, just above the country’s longer-term average.

It is perhaps no wonder, then, that much of President Obama’s liberal base is unhappy that the federal government has not done more to stimulate growth, even as his conservative critics decry socialism.

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