Wow: The last big jobs report before Election Day brought unadulterated excellent news.
Year-over-year wage growth above 3 percent for the first time in nearly a decade. Payrolls adding 250,000 new jobs, well above expectations. Unemployment unchanged at 3.7 percent, a 49-year low — and the rate would have dropped, except that more people returned to the labor force.
That last is huge, for two reasons:
l First, it means Americans who had given up hope of finding work are back in the fight. That’s a major plus for society.
l Second, it suggests that the nation isn’t up against a growth-killing (or inflationary) labor shortage — because millions of others still haven’t returned to the job hunt.
In other words, even at “full employment,” the labor force still has some slack. That’s reason for the Federal Reserve to at least consider a pause in its plans to keep raising interest rates in a bid to prevent the economy from overheating.
The details on Friday’s numbers show the gains were broad: 30,000 new jobs in construction, 32,000 in manufacturing and 179,000 in services. Even retailers hired 2,400 added workers, after long hemorrhaging jobs.
The pay gains were also broad — up 3.1 percent for all private-sector workers and 3.2 percent for “middle-wage” ones. It’s not just the folks at the top who are gaining.
Of course, one good quarter isn’t enough, and worries about everything from possible trade wars to the Fed have the stock market nervous right now. And we’d like to see more reports of rising business investment to lay a strong basis for future hiring.
But it’s another clear sign that Trumponomics is working, helping to bring a brighter future for millions of Americans. Keep that in mind when you vote on Tuesday.
Source: Read Full Article