Economy

The job market is showing sustained signs of improvement with the unemployment rates in 40 states dropping in April, the most in six months. 

The jobless rate rose in only three states — Louisiana, Tennessee and North Dakota — and was unchanged in seven, the Labor Department reported on Friday. 

No state reported double-digit unemployment in April. 

At 9.6 percent, Nevada had the highest unemployment rate but it has dropped from 10.7 percent over the last year, the steepest decline of any state.

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House Democrats are putting their weight behind President Obama's nominee to lead the Labor Department. 

Nearly 140 House Democrats urged Senate leaders on Thursday to confirm Thomas Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, as the next secretary of Labor amid stiff resistance from Republicans. 

After several weeks of delays, a Senate panel approved Perez's nomination on Thursday morning on a party-line vote. 

“The Senate should waste no time in scheduling a vote to confirm Tom Perez as the next secretary of Labor," said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) in a statement. 

After weeks of delays, a Senate panel approved President Obama's nominee to lead the Labor Department on Thursday in a party line vote.

Thomas Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, cleared the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on a 12-10 vote. 

Perez is facing stiff resistance from Senate Republicans, and his nomination remains in jeopardy as it heads to the full Senate. 

Panel chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said Perez's nomination "couldn't be more timely and important" as the nation's economic recovery limps along. 

First-time jobless claims jumped sharply last week, a possible signal that businesses are laying off workers over concerns about the effects of across-the-board spending cuts and tax hikes from the sequester.

The number of workers seeking unemployment benefits increased 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the highest level since the end of March, after hitting a five-year low the previous week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. 

But the four-week moving average, a figure that provides a better trajectory of where the labor market is headed, rose 1,250 to 339,250, a level that reflects steady hiring. 

President Obama's nominee to head up the Labor Department is expected to finally get a vote in a Senate committee after weeks of delays. 

Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, is expected to get a vote on Thursday in the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee after weeks of delays by Republicans who have said they needed more time to sort through documents and continue to gather answers to their questions. 

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President Obama's nominee to lead the Commerce Department will face her first hurdle next week. 

Penny Pritzker, the billionaire Chicago businesswoman, will sit down next Thursday with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to discuss a broad swath of issues from creating jobs, increasing exports, to manufacturing, fisheries and weather forecasting. 

Noted for her business acumen, Pritzker has garnered broad support from Democrats and groups such as the the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.

Panel Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told The Hill that he believes she has enough support to gain the panel's approval and be confirmed by the Senate.

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants a global standard under which petroleum and mining companies will report their payments to governments, calling it a way to curb corruption in resource-rich nations.

Cameron, who is meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday, called for the Group of Eight leading industrial nations to work on the effort at its June gathering in Ireland.

The prime minister, in a broader Wall Street Journal column backing free trade, said greater “transparency” must accompany more open global markets.

“[W]e must lift the veil of secrecy that too often lets corrupt corporations and officials in some countries run rings around the law. The G8 must move toward a global common standard for resource-extracting companies to report all payments to governments, and in turn for governments to report those revenues,” Cameron writes.

Greek officials are cracking down on tax evasion, but with little revenue to show for it.
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Both chambers will dig into the farm bill this week as lawmakers look to strike a deal.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is set to mark up its version of the bill on Tuesday, while its House counterpart will follow suit on Wednesday. 

The biggest difference between the two bills is how they handle food stamps. The House would cut $23 billion from food stamp programs, while the Senate bill would trim just $4 billion.

Leaders in the House and Senate have both committed to floor action in the coming weeks. Farmers are currently operating under an extension of the 2008 farm bill.