S. Korea's 2013 budget focuses on welfare, jobs

OTTAWA — We already know Canada’s economy ended last year in dismal shape. While no one is predicting a healthy turnaround this year, you may soon see some stronger vital signs. In a week of clustered economic data — from interest rates to employment numbers — a major Canadian bank says, “based on admittedly slim evidence,” the first quarter of 2013 could bring surprising — though not great — growth.

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers stepped up hiring in February, pushing the unemployment rate to a four year-low and suggesting the economy has enough momentum to withstand the blow from higher taxes and deep government spending cuts. Nonfarm payrolls surged 236,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, handily beating economists’ expectations for a gain of 160,000. The jobless rate fell to 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9% in January. The decline reflected gains in employment as well as people leaving the labor force.

To get the UK moving it is important that every part of Britain grows. It is impractical for the Government to ignore pockets of private sector potential outside of London & the South East and the economic recovery will be aided by an equal focus on regional parts of the UK as well as bigger metropolitan areas. The East Midlands is a key region to the Government’s stated objectives of re-balancing the economy away from the South East and came in just behind Yorkshire and Humber as having the fastest growth in business activity across the English regions.

WASHINGTON — A Federal Reserve survey says economic growth increased throughout the United States from April through mid-May, fueled by home construction, consumer spending and steady hiring. Eleven of the Fed’s banking districts reported “modest to moderate” economic growth, according to the Beige Book survey released Wednesday. The 12th, in Dallas, reported strong growth.

TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark says slower growth of the Canadian economy will make it “tougher” for the bank to meet its earnings targets this year. It is going to be tougher to meet our target But the head of one of Canada’s biggest banks said Thursday that its leaders will turn to assets other than its domestic banking operations for further growth.

NEW YORK — U.S. manufacturing growth picked up in March as new orders increased and hiring quickened, closing out the best quarter for the sector in two years, a survey showed on Monday. Financial data firm Markit said its U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 54.6 last month from 54.3 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Output increased, though the rate of growth slipped to 56.6 from 57.3 in February.

Cait Lamberton from the University of Pittsburgh writes in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas about a fascinating experiment she ran. What happens if you give people a list of broad areas of public endeavor and tell them that they get to take 10 percent of their tax dollars and decide which functions they’ll be allocated to? The result is less guns and more butter. Defense spending went way down and a bunch of other stuff went up: