Despite COVID-19, the global consumer class—those who are middle class or rich—is rising fast. In an earlier post, we showed that we are experiencing a truly secular shift in the size of this global consumer class. COVID-19 is a transitory setback of one or two years in this long-term shift. Since 2000, the global consumer class grew by more than 4 percent each year, reaching a new milestone of 4 billion people—for the first time—in 2020 or 2021. At the beginning of this century, the middle class was mostly a Western phenomenon. Consumer companies were selling their goods in OECD countries, especially the USA and Europe. Today, the consumer class is global and increasingly Asian. Spending by the Asian middle class exceeds that in Europe and North America combined.

We define the global consumer class as anyone living in a household spending at least $11 per day per person, of which the global middle class ($11-$110 per day) represents the lion’s share with 3.75 billion people. It is very important to define the global consumer class correctly and allow for comparability across countries and over time. Incorrect definitions could cost companies billions, as Nestle experienced painfully in Africa. The company based its decision to expand on announcements of a rapid rise of Africa’s middle class.

(Bloomberg) -- America’s poorest families are using new child benefits in large measure to climb out of debt, much of it likely accumulated during the pandemic.

U.S. Census Bureau surveys are offering an early glimpse of how households are spending $30 billion in enhanced child tax credits that have been distributed so far in two monthly payments. Families who earn less than $50,000 a year are focusing first on paying off debt.

The payments of up to $300 per child, part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, are a first-ever effort to distribute monthly checks to help families better manage living costs such as groceries and school supplies. The administration has touted the tax credits as a step to reduce child poverty.

There’s evidence from earlier in the pandemic that people used stimulus payments to reduce their dependence on high-cost debt like payday loans, according to Alex Horowitz at Pew Charitable Trusts, who’s researched the issue.

The Hispanic market, with its 63 million strong populace, is the largest minority cohort in the U.S. and growing rapidly. The 2010 Census concluded that the lion’s share of the market’s expansion was coming from nativity (e.g. U.S. births). And while this phenomenon continues, we are starting to see more and more first-generation Hispanic immigrants enter the U.S.

Today, the first-generation immigrant group comprises 28% of the Hispanic population. More than half of the Hispanic population (55%) represents the 1.5 (foreign-born but came to the U.S. at 10 years or younger) and 2.0 (U.S. born with one foreign-born parent) generations.

There are significant differences across acculturation levels, something financial institutions have failed to recognize, for the most part. There are also important distinctions between the Hispanic immigrant and the average American that’s been in this country for multiple generations. Yes, language is the obvious difference, but culture is of equal import and rarely discussed and/or understood.

A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said the market for college credit cards continued its general declining trend in 2020.

The 12th annual college credit card report found that agreements with alumni associations made up the largest share of the market in terms of the number of agreements, accounts and amounts of payments made by issuers to their counterparties. The report revealed that the total volume of payments by issuers decreased to $20,882,930, from $24,980,457 in 2019 while 10 percent of active 2019 agreements were terminated during the year.

“The CFPB remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure our financial markets work for consumers, responsible providers, and the economy as a whole, especially for students,” CFPB Acting Director Uejio said. “Our duty to collect and publish data on these credit card agreements supports transparency and an informed public.”

The report was issued in accordance with Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) requirements. The CARD Act requires credit card issuers to annually submit to the CFPB the terms and conditions of any college credit card agreement in effect at any time during the preceding calendar year between an issuer and an institution of higher education.

The Federal Trade Commission approved final revisions that would bring several rules that implement parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in line with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act).

In separate notices, which will be published in the Federal Register shortly, the FTC approved largely technical changes that would clarify that five FCRA rules enforced by the FTC apply only to motor vehicle dealers. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, transferred rulemaking authority related to parts of the FCRA to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, narrowing the FTC’s FCRA rulemaking authority. The final revisions do not make substantive changes to the rules. The FTC sought comment on the proposed rule changes last year.

The changes affect these rules:

Address Discrepancy Rule, which outlines the obligations of users of consumer reports when they receive a notice of address discrepancy from a nationwide consumer reporting agency (CRA);

While private employers add workers, multiple factors hold back return of public noneducation jobs

More than a year after the sharpest monthly decline in state and local government employment on record, the return of jobs in much of the public workforce is lagging as the economy recovers from the pandemic-induced recession. Although the private sector and hard-hit public school systems are now regaining lost positions, employment growth in state and local government outside of schools has withered.

The number of noneducation state and local jobs, which make up about half of the public sector and include workers in areas ranging from city parks and city halls to police forces and correctional facilities, is down by more than 400,000 since the pandemic struck, according to the latest federal Labor Department estimates for August. The current total is about equal to the low point after the Great Recession. Surprisingly, employment in this sector has dipped slightly even as the recovery lengthens, down 0.6% since December.

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following ten individuals to serve in key roles:

The nation's poverty rate rose to 11.4% last year, but the first two rounds of federal stimulus payments helped keep 11.7 million Americans out of poverty, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday.

The payments, a key part of the unprecedented federal response to the economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, prompted a decrease in an alternative poverty measure to 9.1% in 2020, the Census Bureau said.

Last year was the first time the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which began in 2009, was lower than the official rate. This measure takes into account certain non-cash government assistance, taxes and needed expenses.

Without the stimulus payments, the alternative measure would have risen by about 3.6 percentage points, Census said. In 2019, the supplemental rate was 11.8%