Equifax says hack hits 143 million
Credit monitoring company Equifax says a breach exposed Social Security numbers and other data from about 143 million Americans.
The Atlanta-based company said Thursday that “criminals” exploited a U.S. website application to access files between mid-May and July of this year. It said consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver’s license numbers were exposed.
Credit card numbers for about 209,000 U.S. consumers were also accessed.
Irma tests Florida’s strict building codes
It took a catastrophic hurricane to reveal how lax building codes in the country’s most storm-prone state had become. Experts say a monstrously strong Hurricane Irma now could be the most serious test of Florida’s resilience since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Structures statewide now must be built to withstand major hurricanes, and the Miami area has even stronger wind requirements.
Disney expands kids streaming service
Disney is adding more firepower to the kids streaming service expected in 2019.
The company says its “Star Wars” and Marvel comic-book movies will be included in the service as well as Disney and Pixar movies and TV shows.
Productivity grows 1.5 percent in spring
U.S. workers’ productivity rose a bit more this spring than initially reported, but the gains were relatively weak and a key reason why recent economic growth has been modest.
The Labor Department said Thursday that productivity grew at a revised annual rate of 1.5 percent in the April-June quarter. That’s up from an initial estimate of a 0.9 percent increase and comes after a slight 0.1 percent rate of increase in the first quarter. Labor costs increased at just a rate of just 0.2 percent in the second quarter, a major drop-off from a 4.8 percent growth rate in the first quarter.
Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, has been weak throughout the nine-year recovery. Many economists say this has stifled pay raises and broader economic growth.
Jobless claims spike after Harvey
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits leapt last week by the most in nearly five years, driven mostly by Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Texas and Louisiana. The Labor Department says weekly applications for jobless aid jumped 62,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000, reaching the highest level in two years.