this is boom bust i'm bart chilton broadcasting from washington d.c. . today the bureau of labor statistics released their new jobs report predicts december and the unemployment rate remains it four point one percent for the third straight month we'll dig deeper into the details then take a little trip around the world and look at unemployment around the planet and what's in store for energy sector in twenty eight there's a heck of a lot going on as well as tyson slocum for his take now let's get to the top stories in business in finance. u.s. tech stop started in twenty eighteen on a highway tech stocks outperformed health care energy and real estate with the tech sector averaging thirty four percent gains across the pond also the results are the same there despite brics it concerns investors broke all records for the u.k.'s technology sector with u.k. based firms attracting more than two billion dollars in new funding financial tech

or fin tech was the u.k.'s leading investment sector like in the us for last year firms like trans wire funding circle and non-zero lead the pack raising hundreds of millions of dollars in capital u.k. artificial intelligence companies also had a strong year with raising more than two hundred seventy million dollars in funds for the for a first that's a first for the sector. the december jobs report is just out the unemployment rate remains at four point one three times in a row three months in a row there were one hundred forty eight thousand jobs created which is still very positive but it is fifty thousand jobs be low what the experts had anticipated in the consensus and two hundred and it's less than the two hundred thirty nine thousand jobs created in november let's get into the ditch with dr mark thornton a senior fellow at the meat isn't to dr thornton thanks again for joining us it seems like a pretty good report but not

a tony the tiger great report what's your take on some of the highlights in terms of specific sector specifics well i was thinking that was going to be a tony the tiger type report of two hundred thousand or more new jobs added in as you said that the consensus amongst economist was for one hundred ninety thousand and then the actual number turns out to be one hundred forty eight thousand there were some great sectors results construction was up thirty thousand jobs of course we see that everywhere you go with new construction manufacturing up twenty five thousand so that's pretty decent and on the down side the retail sector surprisingly lost twenty thousand jobs in december i'm a little leery of that figure these figures are almost guesstimates that have to be revised two times and i would not be surprised if retail is revised

upward in a significant way if. retail goes up twenty five thousand set of down twenty thousand and my estimate was right on the money i was surprised by the retail number two that it wasn't higher going into the holiday season but you know we've talked with some retail experts in the past and they say people are moving more and more to online purchasing so it might be lower than you and i thought back to the construction though are some of those energy sector jobs that were created in construction really due to the those unfortunate hurricanes that we had this year. oh yes we've we've had a naturally increase in construction jobs and then as we get into this boom of course there's even more construction jobs and then the hurricanes just come right on top of that in texas and south florida and and puerto rico where they've added a great deal of new jobs in that sector and also of course there's

a lot of jobs in that sector from undocumented immigrants coming in from mexico to participate in those. you know tremendous job growth and those are not counted so the the actual conditions in construction are much bigger and better than what is indicated by the government statistics ok fine final thing i wanted to ask you can you put two thousand and seventeen in perspective sort of on the haul given where we were almost a decade ago with the recession two thousand and seven two thousand and eight we've come a long way right absolutely you know you had two point one million jobs you've got an unemployment rate of four point one percent and stock markets at all time highs that's a great picture but unfortunately we're also back in that same two thousand and seven mode with unemployment rate below the natural rate with stock markets stretch

far beyond normal expectations and so i believe that the unemployment rate is going to go below four percent in two thousand and eighteen but ultimately by the end of the year the unemployment rate should be rising at that point you know there were some experts that i heard talking in recent days they said that they thought that the rate could get as low as three point five percent are you are you that dr. dived i've seen that figure and i'm not quite that optimistic and you know as i said it when the federal reserve stretches the unemployment rate below the natural rate that to me is a sign of trouble times ahead and so i would like to see normal unemployment rates where they don't change very much instead of ones that go below four percent go above eight percent that's the fault of the federal reserve and its monetary policy

well we'll see a lot of that coming up i know and we have jay powell the new chair of the federal reserve who will be presiding over his first meeting of the federal open markets committee on january thirtieth and thirty first so we'll see if he has any changes to what's going on but we really want to thank you dr mark thorton senior fellow at the me she's institute thank you so much for joining us happy new year to you we'll see you again. now let's take a little trip around the world and look at employment first we go to david miller for more on the americas david a bar thanks for having me and according to financial reports canada added seventy nine thousand jobs in december that pushed the jobless rates to the lowest level since one thousand nine hundred seventy six two thousand and seventeen was canada's best year for job since two thousand and two with over four hundred thousand jobs added by reason of those three biggest provinces all the largest gains ontario

british columbia and q back all helped fuel this job increase and looking at the bigger picture employment rose across the country as the economy added net job gains the majority of the games were driven by full time work opportunity and there were more people working in the service providing sectors as that was led by fallen it's insurance rose day and rentals employment also increased in educational services along with transportation and warehousing and by industry factory saw employment increases that three point five percent in two thousand and seventeen while the services sector experienced a boost of two percent additionally as the global economy strengthens people have more money to purchase everything from cars to high end of like tronics and the mexican economy consisting of almost one hundred twenty million people with an unemployment rate of three point nine percent is holding strong to start the new year the country has gone through tremendous structural changes over the past three decades from old opin economy up to the early one thousand nine hundred to

a booming manufacturing center after the aftermath of nafta in the one thousand nine hundred and mexico is becoming an international trade hub as the proximity to the us export market continues to be a competitive advantage but mexico does have a strategic boost through free trade they signed twelve agreements with forty six countries and mexico is divided into thirty two federal entities of which thirty one states and mexico city. as a federal district mexico city was responsible for generating almost sixteen percent of mexico's g.d.p. and in the metropolitan area did account for almost twenty two percent of the total national g.d.p. and mexico's now a top global export of cars and flat screen t.v.'s among other products xterra boasting a firm hold and a global economy through trade and more reporting for boom bust part thank you david thanks for that report very interesting next we are going to go to london to

now stasia church and who gives us a report on the u.k. and london and u.k. and europe rather. compared with a year ago the unemployment rate in member states fell over all except for finland where it is said to have stayed the same the rate still remain high especially if we compare them to what the numbers were head of the two thousand and eight collapse and recession that followed the largest recent drops in numbers were recorded in cyprus and greece now if we take a look at the highest and lowest unemployment levels among even member states the top five highest levels were recorded in greece and twenty point six percent spain at sixteen point seven percent italy at eleven point one ten point five and cyprus at ten point two percent in terms of the lowest unemployment figures those can be seen in the czech republic two point seven percent malta three point five germany at three point six hungary at four point one and great britain four point two now germany is considered europe's largest economy and a powerhouse within the e.u.

the unemployment figures there have hit a record low in fact those are said to be the lowest in decades eurostar which defines unemployment based on the un's international labor organizations guidelines estimates suggest that over eighteen million people in the e.u. twenty eight of whom over fourteen million were in the euro area were unemployed in october twenty seventeen compared with the same time the previous year unemployment fell by over two million in the e.u. twenty eight and by under one point five million in the euro area now the euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was eight point eight down from nine point eight percent the e.u. twenty eight unemployment rate was seven point four down from eight point three in the same time period all these years after the peak of the economic crisis youth unemployment remains a major area of concern for the european union and over eighteen percent in the euro area according to you are a stat reese spain and italy have the highest youth unemployment rates while germany and the netherlands have the lowest these rates vary significantly of

course from country to country depending on individual ongoing economic developments and as i said r.t.e. lunde. thanks so much to you and now for a look at unemployment in asia. joins us. hey there barton good to be with you today so let's start with the big player in the hemisphere of course that is going to be china china china an official unemployment rate is just below four percent three point nine five to be exact but as we know those numbers are notoriously unreliable sets given the volatility of the country's g.d.p. growth that swings as high as fourteen percent and as low as six percent so it's extremely hard to hammer out what the true numbers are in a country with about one point four billion people much of china still quite rural so their methods to arrive at those numbers are kind of questionable but no doubt they're carrying the growth in that region but three point nine five is where we're at thanks to the country's booming manufacturing and construction industries and

let's move over now to japan even the lower numbers there are they're seeing unemployment all the way down to about two point seven percent with a population of about one hundred twenty seven million this rate is some of the lowest japan has seen this since the early one nine hundred ninety s. compared to just two years ago japan has enjoyed a boost in construction jobs information and technology and both wholesale and retail sectors have added demand there and over now to south korea as relations with their northern neighbor began to thaw their overall unemployment remains a low of three point seven percent thanks to conglomerates like samsung and l.g. and they're seeing an ugly number over eleven percent unemployment though among the nation's young people aged fifteen to twenty nine getting jobs at those big corporations are brutal in south korea places like have a grueling six hour exams just to get your foot in the door so nationwide though their numbers look pretty good look a little deeper and you'll see the young people kind of struggling there and down

over in the philippines while that country is battling a drug epidemic a growing terrorism cells strongman press. deter taylor and his administration is reporting unemployment at a flat five percent across the islands that number quite high though compared to the mainland experts say this is due to the labor participation rate which has fallen to crisis levels of about sixty three percent so a lot of filipinos have just given up on seeking work altogether just not enough jobs to go around let's go over now to india as we know the developing nation they've got a staggering number of havering just below five percent but even at four point eight nine they are now central to the future of bricks india is the new china for brics they've got higher growth rate than china and still room to go the government in india seeking structural reforms of the future of unemployment in india is likely pretty bright for the nation of one point three billion lastly we've got australia there hovering at about five percent five and

a half percent the aussie is they're saying tough times there in a country of only about twenty four million people they've had a long span of years where the labor participation rate remained around sixty five percent as high so the young people there especially hit hard at a staggering thirteen point five percent that is the highest level that they have seen in forty years apart so i think the takeaway from all of this the young people across asia are kind of suffering. even more so than in the us minnillo in the us it's about thirteen percent of the young people unemployed so something for us to keep watching most actual a common thread around the globe. and thank you so much for your assistance and thanks to all of our correspondents around the world for their assistance right now it's time for a quick boy break but stick around because when we return we'll see what's ahead for the energy sector in twenty eighteen as we do go to break here the numbers at the closing bell and by the way we get back i have a quick comment about the dow passing the twenty five thousand dollar mark

something we reported yesterday with us to go to break here are the numbers at the closing bell. in two thousand and sixteen the panama papers show the world with the tax haven secrets two trillion united states dollars passed through most. in the amount of time that we've been in panama papers exposure that's what it shows a lot of money it really is. journalism it's an act of journalism looking at things that people want to keep secret and asking why would they want to keep these things secret. millions of. documents were examine. all the people we basically have tried to get an advantage out of this sort of

newspaper. and probably other politician which were. other politicians the media were quick to find targets such as the kings of morocco and saudi arabia the president of argentina several prime ministers. and russian president vladimir putin of course. that had so i have sued so many newspapers for defamation some things don't just happen by chance it was very striking there were no more americans to go especially a lot of people from the brics countries specially brazil russia and china that this special project reveals what was missed in the media coverage. of the panama chronicles. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see that.

yesterday we reported that the dow jones industrial average had topped twenty five thousand for the first time in history i want to add a little bit of historical texture to that because it's a really big hairy deal the dow peaked above fifty four hundred in august of one thousand nine hundred twenty nine that's just before the crash that led to the great depression and it wouldn't reach that level fifty nine hundred until one thousand nine hundred fifty nine just short of thirty years later in january of one nine hundred sixty six there was another high above seventy six hundred from there stocks went on a decline not bottoming out until july of one thousand nine hundred eighty two from

there the crash of eighty seven some of us recall black monday was the only blip in a long climb that ended with the collapse of the tech bubble in the late one nine hundred ninety s. and then markets work and worsened after the world trade center attacks of nine eleven of course the most recent shock was the collapse of the housing market after two thousand and seven and nearly the entire global financial system in october of two thousand and eight most of us remember that all too well i know i do now the dow has topped twenty five thousand after gaining one thousand point in the past five weeks of all things and added twenty five percent to the total value over the past year it's really monumental so the dow busting twenty five thousand is a big deal not just for today but in history. as the northeastern united states is dealing with the impact of a massive winter storm that is expected to bring record lows over the weekend insurers are insurers are surveying the damage from twenty five seventeen's

hurricane season munich re a german reinsurer says hurricanes harvey worm and maria contributed to pushing insurance industry payouts to a record amount of one hundred thirty five billion dollars when uninsured losses are added the total damage related to natural disasters from last year amounted to a monumental three hundred thirty billion dollars the company says that figure the total loss is three hundred thirty billion nearly doubled the ten year inflation adjusted average insured losses came in at nearly three times the annual average a company board member said that their official in their professional press release that a key component a key point of these catastrophic events is that the forecast of what is to come because even though these are individual events and they can't be directly traced to climate change the experts at munich say that such extreme weather conditions

will continue to occur more often in the future. and it's particularly after po'd that today we look at energy prices given the increased energy needs of heat and for homes around this cold snap that we're having in much of the u.s. we're joined by director of public and citizens energy program tyson slocum and talk about two thousand eight hundred energy sector tyson welcome again thank you for being here always great to be here ok so let's just give a big flyby hundred thousand foot overview of what you think is going to happen twenty eighteen of the energy sector we're going to continue to see the rise and growth of renewables right the nineteenth century. was the age of coal the twenty the twentieth century was the age of oil the twenty first century is the age of renewables so while we're nobles still are going to have smaller market share

relative to. the nucular and coal the growth and the amount of direct capital investment into renewables is going to be the big story it's going to continue to outpace what we see in fossil fuel a new killer and so i see i see two thousand and eighteen as a watershed year in terms of sustainable renewable energy investment around the globe and you say that tyson even in light of really what is sort of a negative backdrop in this new administration for a lot of these things i noticed they did keep the. tack to duction for renewable vehicles in the tax bill that was just passed but but you're still positive even though this administration seems to be pretty pessimistic and if not outright negative on renewables right there's no question that the trip administration is doing all it can to try and stem the growth of renewables and throw a desperate lifeline to their friends in the coal industry but even the trumpet ministrations aggressive tactics in the regulatory and legislative front can't undo

these market change remarket they should like that part of it right you know you things housing free market let me ask you then about that in the free market and what's going on secretary of energy i think that's the department i'm getting that rick perry secretary rick perry heads up he forgot it famously during one of those presidential debates the former governor of texas he's taken some actions recently with regard to nuclear and coal and think they've been sort of the redheaded stepchild in the energy field what's your take on that a pretty unprecedented and sweeping move by the secretary of energy so back in september he proposed this rule to the federal energy regulatory commission the. of energy has very limited authorities itself to intervene into markets it really relies upon this independent federal agency for called for and so perry submitted

this proposed rule that essentially said you know what renewables enjoy unfair advantages and they're become so cheap that they are prematurely causing nucular and coal fired power plants also known as baseload to become an economic and go out of business and so this is going to create reliability problems so says perry and therefore consumers must bail them out to the tune of billions of dollars a year so on january tenth firth is set to rule on this. proposal we think that fur is going to reject it but it just shows the perseverance of the trumpet ministration and some of his key deputies in trying to do all they can for for coal and for nucular but the fact is that renewables are often the least costs power source in most american markets today and increasingly

around the world and that's really what's driving relatively low electricity prices throughout north america plus the renewables have the benefit of being renewable exotic i don't just use a middle of it by the way is this the one that you testified on on the hill yeah i testified before the house of representatives energy and commerce committee back in october laying out the problems with this perry approach and really talking about how renewables actually provide a lot of benefits to the grid right especially with all of the advancements that we're starting to see in energy storage because that storage like batteries can balance out what's known as the intermittency of renewable energy ok i'm going to out two minutes let's get to another star to go to the secretary of an. eerier ryan zinke he who seems to be doing more of the same explained that with regard to drilling and safety tyson yes so just a nother big bombshell from the trumpet ministration they announce the largest

expansion proposal of offshore oil and gas drilling for the entire pacific coast of the united states the entire atlantic coast all of the coast surrounding alaska and the eastern gulf of mexico which borders on florida this is unprecedented and it's already seeing a lot of pushback even from some republicans that represent some of the coastal districts that will be affected so you can be sure that over the next several years this is going to be a huge fight between some of the oil and gas interests that are pushing the trumpet ministration and some of the more moderate republicans in these coastal so i'm concerned i know that people have concerns about drilling but at least there are those safety precautions that we put in place after the b.p. spill right well unfortunately those are also going to be on the cutting room floor because at the same time that they're talking about this unprecedented expansion of

offshore oil drilling they are also talking about doing the way with every single one of the post b.p. deepwater horizon offshore safety rules the obama administration in response to the deepwater horizon catastrophe in two thousand and ten administratively reorganize the entire agency that oversees offshore drilling and imposed stringent new safety standards to protect workers the and the environment and the trump administration under secretary of the interior is proposing to do way with every single one of those safety measures. ok we only got a couple seconds left can you give me a quick take on what you think is going to happen with fracking which in fairness really boomed under president obama what's going to happen going into twenty eight well i think we're going to continue to see expanded fracking in the united states you know the north dakota bock and the texas eagle ford are really what's pasing

big oil. production in the united states and i think that's going to continue tyson slocum director of public citizen's energy program thank you again for being here always helpful to have you my pleasure great thanks for watching be sure to catch boom bust on you tube at you tube dot com slash boom bust marty have a great weekend catch you next time. because there's a survival guide book stacie you want to start simply getting all these are. you sure you don't see them. back to. public no. repatriations to look at the rest in seven years. philippa said you guys are.

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united nations security council holds an emergency session on the anti-government protests that swept you wrong. turkey lashes out at america apparently threatening to drop bilateral agreements after the conviction of a turkish banker in the u.s. that is as pakistan also backs away from its alliance with washington. cream hardship in france thousands of migrants are living in the streets president promised to find them all shelter before the end of two thousand and seventeen. a colleague and a farmer joins you next hour for a more complete look at the day's headlines but next cross talk gets into the continuing collapse of trust in the mainstream media seems.