Wall Street Journal (12/22/15) Anna Louis Sussman; Kate Davidson

Gross domestic product advanced at a 2.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the third quarter, revised down from a previously estimated 2.1%, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had estimated the latest revision would show 1.9% growth. The July through September reading marks a sharp slowdown from the second quarter’s 3.9% rate of expansion, reflecting the drag from inventory drawdown and a deceleration in consumer and business spending. The reading suggests 2015 is on track to close out another year of steady if unspectacular growth, bolstered by a firming job market, strong home sales, and pockets of wage increases.

The median projection from Fed officials as of December was for GDP to grow 2.1% this year and 2.4% in 2016. The new revisions show a larger drag from private inventories than had been previously estimated. Consumer spending grew at an unrevised 3.0% annual rate, contributing 2.04 percentage points to the quarter’s 2.0% growth rate.

Washington Examiner (DC) (12/22/15) Joseph Lawler

Recently enacted state minimum wage laws may have cost the economy 100,000 to 200,000 new jobs, according to an analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on Monday. Economist David Neumark reviewed the effects of the federal and state minimum wage increases that have taken place since the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25 in 2007. Neumark multiplied the increases in the minimum wages by the estimates of job losses associated with higher minimum wages taken from recent studies to arrive at his conclusion. Neumark wrote that the loss of up to 200,000 is a “small drop” that should be weighed against the higher wages for those who remain employed. Neumark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, wrote that “the overall body of recent evidence suggests that the most credible conclusion is a higher minimum wage results in some job loss for the least-skilled workers—with possibly larger adverse effects than earlier research suggested.”

Wall Street Journal (12/22/15) Peter Landers

Japanese staffing company Recruit Holdings Co. said Tuesday it planned to buy a Dutch peer, USG People NV, for €1.42 billion ($1.55 billion), in the latest example of Japanese companies looking abroad for growth. “Recruit’s midterm vision is to become the world leader in human resources by around 2020, in terms of number of positions filled. To achieve this, we are seeking to grow our business platforms in Japan and abroad organically and through acquisitions,” said Masumi Minegishi, Recruit’s chief executive. In the past five years, Recruit has bought several staffing companies in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. USG People ranks 12th in the world among staffing and recruitment firms, Recruit said.