Unbelievably…even the NYT is forced to admit…the job creation in this economy is astounding. Even people who haven’t been looking for work for a long time are entering the workforce. In an article titled, “Employers’ Hiring Push Brings Workers Off the Bench,” Patricia Cohen writes:
Despite sharpening trade tensions, a hefty rise in payrolls has provided the latest evidence that the American economy is strong enough to keep pulling benched workers back into action.
Six hundred thousand people joined the work force in June and started actively hunting for a job, the Labor Department said Friday in its monthly report. Of those who found one, three-quarters had been outside the pool of those officially ranked as unemployed.
The number of Americans working part time because of their inability to find a full-time position fell — as did the number of those too discouraged to bother searching.
“I’m really excited to see that the labor force is growing,” said Catherine Barrera, chief economist of the online job site ZipRecruiter.
I laugh every time I read that opening paragraph. I can just imagine Cohen sitting there at her desk in Manhattan, determined to write positive things about the American economy. “Despite sharpening disgust over the President of the United States,” I like to imagine her beginning, before editing out the bile.
Here’s the amazing truth that even the New York Times can’t deny. America added 213,000 jobs, the unemployment rate is at 4 percent, and the average hourly wage over the past year has increased 2.7 percent. (Cohen can’t help herself. She calls this “modest.” But most Americans trying to survive paycheck to paycheck don’t denigrate raises like she does.)
Cohen writes, probably under duress:
The jobs report caps a string of encouraging economic readings. Some estimates for growth in the second quarter are bouncing above 4 percent. The manufacturing sector buzzed with activity last month, and spending on construction rose. New jobless claims are at historically low levels. And many consumers displayed their confidence in the economy by kicking off the summer with a new car purchase.
“JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” President Trump said Friday on Twitter after the Labor Department’s data for June was released.
Is anyone getting tired of winning yet? Nope.
Hat Tip: New York Times
Image Credit: Naval Surface Warriors on Flickr