Fast-food sites targeted for strikes

Seeking to increase pressure on McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other fast-food restaurants, organizers of a movement demanding a $15-an-hour wage for fast-food workers say they will sponsor one-day strikes in 100 cities Thursday and protest activities in 100 additional cities.

As the movement struggles to find pressure points in its quest for substantially higher wages for workers, organizers said strikes were planned for the first time in cities like Charleston, S.C.; Providence, R.I.; and Pittsburgh.

The protests have expanded greatly since November 2012, when 200 fast-food workers engaged in a one-day strike at more than 20 restaurants in New York City, the first such walkout in the history of the nation’s fast-food industry.

"There’s been pretty huge growth in one year," said Kendall Fells, one of the movement’s main organizers. "People understand that a one-day strike is not going to get them there. They understand that this needs to continue to grow."

Swiss banks agree to share data

GENEVA » The Swiss government says it has cleared the first batch of banks to cooperate with U.S. authorities under a deal to stem tax evasion.

The Cabinet gave its approval at a meeting Friday but said in a statement that it won’t give information on the number of banks involved or name them.

The agreement allows Swiss banks to settle any potential U.S. charges if they disclose information related to American assets. Some would also have to pay a penalty. Banks wanting to participate have to seek individual permission to do so from the government.

Switzerland has been trying to shed its image as a haven for tax evasion and money laundering carried out through misuse of its famous banking secrecy.

S&P downgrades Dutch credit

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands » Standard & Poor’s stripped the Netherlands of its triple-A credit rating Friday, saying that the country’s growth prospects have deteriorated and it is not performing as well as peers.

It downgraded the country to AA+, meaning the only remaining eurozone countries with AAA ratings from S&P are Germany, Finland and Luxembourg. The Netherlands’ finance minister, Jeroen Dijs­sel­bloem, said the downgrade was unsurprising "but disappointing."

The Dutch economy has been hit by falling home prices and rising unemployment, which is expected to hit 8 percent next year.

"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the Netherlands’ growth prospects are now weaker than we had previously anticipated, and the real GDP per capita trend growth rate is persistently lower than that of peers at similarly high levels of economic development," S&P said in its announcement.

It said it expects Dutch GDP to fall by 1.2 percent in 2013 and grow by 0.5 percent in 2014.

Firing rate at historic low, but hirings fail to pick up

In 2006, with the U.S. economy booming, the proportion of workers who were laid off or discharged over a 12-month period fell to 15.5 percent. That was the lowest rate since the government began collecting the data at the end of 2000 — and a sign that the job market was exceedingly strong.

But the rate of firings soared during the credit crisis and Great Recession, hitting a peak of 20.4 percent in late 2009.

Now it has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded — 14.8 percent.

In other words, a worker’s chance of being fired is now less than it was when the job market was booming and much less than it was when the economy was in trouble four years ago.

And yet, the job situation now is not a good one. While fewer people are being fired, the rate of hiring has barely picked up.

And the long-term unemployment rate — the proportion of the labor force that has been out of work for more than 15 weeks — remains higher than the short-term rate. In October, the long-term rate was 3.8 percent, while the short-term rate was just 3.5 percent.

From 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began to publish monthly unemployment rates based on a survey of households, until mid-2009, the long-term rate was never as high as the short-term rate. Since then, it has consistently been higher, although the gap has narrowed.

What seems to have happened in the United States is that job mobility — historically an important feature of the nation’s labor market — fell rapidly during the recession and has yet to recover much.

The figures on hirings and firings are compiled by the government in its monthly JOLTS — Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey — report.

TOTAL RECALL

About 4,150 Tailwind bicycle racks that are used for hitching children’s trailer bikes to adult bicycles have been recalled in the U.S. The racks, sold in black or silver, have stock code numbers 939001 for black and 939002 for silver, which was printed on the original packaging. The racks have double side rails. "Burley" is printed on the curved back plate of the rack. They were sold from November 2011 through September 2013.

The top portion of the rack that connects children’s trailer cycles to the towing bicycle can break and allow the trailer cycle to disconnect, posing a fall hazard.

Call Burley Design at 800-311-5294 or visit www.burley.com and click on Recall Information at the bottom of the page.

U.S. gas prices down a half-dollar; a gallon in the islands costs $3.94

WASHINGTON >> Falling gas prices are shaping up as an unexpected gift for drivers.

The average price of gasoline has tumbled 50 cents from its peak this year to $3.28 a gallon through Friday, putting it on track for the lowest average since 2010, according to AAA.

Because many Americans have had no pay raises this year, whatever money they’re saving on gas has freed up a bit more for other purchases.

And history shows that when gas prices drop, consumers become more likely to splurge on dinners out. Impulse buys at the mall seem like less of a stretch. More people buy a gas station gift card after fueling up.

In Hawaii, which has the highest gas prices in the country, the average price for regular unleaded on Friday was $3.94, down 11 cents from $4.05 a year ago.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Information Service, foresees the average price in the U.S. drifting down, as it typically does this time of year, to as low as $3.05 by year’s end.

For retailers the best-case scenario would be for the national average to breach $3 a gallon, a psychological barrier that could help accelerate spending.