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August CPI shows inflation's sticky in services

Sep 11, 2024
Airline tickets and eating out cost more in August than July. But price gains are easing in other previously sticky industries.
Airfares rose nearly 4% from July to August, according to the consumer price index.
Megan Varner/Getty Images

While the manufacturing sector struggles, the services sector is doing just fine, thanks

Sep 4, 2024
The services sector has expanded in 47 of the last 50 months, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Several business owners in the sector report renewed strength this year.
The services sector is the primary employer in the U.S. It encompasses businesses including restaurants, hotels, marketing agencies, construction companies and laundromats.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Americans pulled back on restaurant spending in September, report says

Oct 4, 2023
Instead of $50 main courses, they're opting for sandwiches and other lower-priced items, say restaurants around the country.
Restaurant owners are reporting lower customer spending averages and fewer hours of operation.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

For U.S. service firms, access to China still mixed

Feb 12, 2021
China sells goods into the U.S. market easily, but American service providers face a range of barriers in China, which vary across industries.
The United Family hospital in Beijing is a U.S.-China joint venture. Foreign investors can't fully own hospitals in the country.
Courtesy of United Family Healthcare

The economy's critical service sector comes into focus as data suggest softening

Feb 21, 2020
Most jobs in the U.S. are service jobs. They make up the biggest part of the economy, far bigger than manufacturing or farming.
Service jobs, like dog walking, may be shrinking.
John Moore/Getty Images

What is the service economy, anyway?

Oct 3, 2019
The vast majority of American jobs are in the services sector; as distinct to manufacturing, agriculture and others.
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Manufacturers aren't the only ones worrying about trade and global growth

Oct 3, 2019
Growth in the service sector is slowing, too, according to new numbers from the Institute for Supply Management.
Shipping containers from China and other nations are unloaded at the Port of Long Beach in California in February.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images