My iron lung is working again! Praise Trump!
Good News for America. Bad news for Trump haters.
Continuing the Obama recovery. But I guess you have to give Trump credit for not screwing this up too. Given that he knows nothing about economics, banking, manufacturing, supply chain logistics, tax policy, and everything else, and doesn't listen to advice, and doesn't have anyone providing any credible advice, it's really kind of a miracle that he didn't drive the nation and the world straight into a bottomless black pit.
But, hey, give it time. Talent will out.
31300 thousand tempory jobs dont pay living wage.400000 people who retire from jobs pay living wage with health care .Stil hear sucking sound jobs being exported out of usa.
1
How many of these jobs are for "non Russian" immigrants who "won" work visas to "work" at "trump" "properties?"
Simply great jobs news. And DPRK has been brougjt to the table? Great. Metal industry protected? Great. If Hillary was President this paper and many of its readers would be crazy happy. I can't wait for Rachel Maddow to find the black depressing side of this great, happy set of results.
2
I took a moment to read the NYT Picks on this subject. Not one commentor mentioned President Trump. One of them even layed the success of the economy at Obama's feet.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This is still a capitalist society. We did not elect Bernie or Hillary so we are going to be allowed to keep what we earn for a while, however to think Obama had one iota of this credit is LUDICROUS.
1
Bull. I don't care how many jobs are added. What I care about is rampant homelessness, no affordable health care, continuing war, the rich getting richer and the middle class shrinking, infrastructure crumbling and being neglected, a congress dedicated to corporate profit, a racist president adored by a racist segment of the population, a corporate media that ignores it's duty to inform and instead is happy to entertain for profit, an education system that does not educate, and corporate control of government.
2
...because some companies are optimistic that under this administration, they can pollute with impunity??
1
It means that Trump knows what he is doing and that democracy is not dying due to darkness (WaPo).
Yes, President Obama's policies have resulted in a robust recovery from the Great Recession and a strong economy.
Give Trump a little more time and he will kill the economy.
2
Unemployment stayed same. Seems workers came off the bench. Suggests that Obama numbers were inaccurate. Nothing new for government stats.
1
Can any jobs report be trusted in a Trump-led government?
great, but you have to work five of them to earn a living wage...
Not surprisingly, none of the commenters here can accept good news. Everyone is looking for a negative angle or some way to deflect credit.
Our country is too polarized.
Wonderful, right? So why was this same economic trajectory called 'american carnage' by the GOP when Obama was in office? And worse yet, why did the media let that characterization stand unchallenged? Very little has changed, and not a single thing has happened that would not have happened if there had been a 3rd term of Obama. Shame on us all for being led around by the nose by the pervasive, right wing propaganda machine.
How can we believe any statistics the understaffed government makes up?
Trump is succeeding with north Korea.
Trump is succeeding with economy.
He is succeeding where Obama and Clinton failed.
You smart people may know how to be smart but that's not the same theory of how to rule the US the rules are different you are just not smart enough to understand that!
The New York Times’s headline says it all. “US Adds 313,000 jobs in February”!
This is a tribute to President Trump’s economic policies which are proving highly effective.
So what? Republicans said all the jobs created under Obama didn't matter because there was no wage growth. So where is it now?
Hey, Trumpists...when you were, oh, eight years old, ever keep blowing harder and harder into an inflated balloon?
Trump is succeeding with north Korea.
Trump is succeeding with economy.
He is succeeding where Obama and Clinton failed.
You smart people may know how to be smart but that's not the same theory of how to rule the US the rules are different you are just not smart enough to understand that!
Meanwhile, farmers in the American Midwest, and steelworkers in Canada, are waiting for the reaction to Trump's blustering to fall on them.
Unemployment numbers and jobs reports have been Fake News, if not, Selected News for quite some time. The math in these reports simply doesn't add up. The report states Avg annual wage if 45,000. That's poverty level for a family of five. And what about those they no longer count.
There's no more talk of the 50 million plus, 50 yr old and over workers who were forced out of jobs, only to be replaced by a younger entry level wage workforce. All for profit. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone tell me I'm too senior. I'm 60. Whatever happened to age discrimination? Seventy one year old President, Congressperson avg age 57, Senator avg age 61, yet those who seemingly represent all Americans, have turned their backs on tens of millions of us, to line the pockets of their billionaire donors.
Time to mobilize. #not2old.
1
"modest wage growth defused concerns that competition for workers was driving up salaries"
Housing costs and healthcare costs continue to skyrocket for working people. If you're "concerned" about the idea of wages going up too much, you're on the wrong side. Get out of the way.
4
I was laid off at the end of August and still haven't found a job that uses my skills. I went to graduate school prior to the layoff and now that degree doesn't seem very valuable, even though I got it recently, in 2014, at the age of 41.
I wonder who's getting all those new jobs? I suspect those of us who are 45 and older aren't well represented in those ranks. I suspect millenials, who are willing to work for less, and whose youth protects them from the health problems that older employees contend with, are the ones who have benefited from this job surge.
My being 45 in this job market seems akin to what 55 or 60 was to my parents' generation...the age at which employers second-guess hiring a person because of their age.
13
You can bet that age plays a role in this. Those of us in my area know that ageism is prevalent. If you are over 40, it's very hard to compete.
I know of a lot of people who re-trained or got an MBA and it meant nothing because they are older.
The jobs are going to those 35 or younger, at least in IT. The older folks I know who were with certain companies a long time have had their hours cut back and also their benefits. Big companies have quietly been laying people off.
7
The simple reason why inflation is low despite the economy improving is that wages have not increased, hence no spending. Most profits have been captured at the top, and those people don't spend.
Low unemployment with low wages doesn't do much for the majority of the working class.
12
High unemployment would be better?
"“Does that end up bidding up construction wages and competing with other kinds of construction activity already underway?”"
Yes it does. Condo prices keep going up, why shouldn't construction worker wages?
4
Every time there's been a big tax cut since the 1960s, you've seen a boost like this--but they've always been TEMPORARY.
So, good news, but don't declare the 'end of history' just yet!
6
The most interesting point about this great report is that you can blow out estimates, add 313,000 good paying jobs, and yet unemployment can remain unchanged. It is because 653,000 workers classified by the Obama Admin as "discouraged” (i.e. no longer seeking work) were resurrected from the economic dead and went to work. This is the problem with the economic stats politicians have devised for the purposes of inflating their achievements and hiding their failures.. they are open to subjectivity, and therefore manipulation.
Another game played is that job quality is ignored when reporting headline unemployment numbers. A part-time, minimum wage job with no benefits = a full-time steel job making $80K with full benefits = an executive job making $250K. So ten Americans with average salaries of $100K plus benefits lose their jobs, six new jobs providing 10 hours/week making minimum wage with no benefits are filled by foreign workers, and five other people who want jobs are classified as "discouraged", and in this scenario the net is one new job, with unemployment being reduced. This is a monumental lie and how it worked under the Obama Admin. And what is most unfair is that as these discouraged workers look for and take jobs, it causes what should be reductions in the unemployment rate to be greatly understated.
The good news is that Trump has the economy back on solid footing and the benefits are being felt by people who have been suffering for the better part of a decade.
5
"The good news is that Trump has the economy back on solid footing and the benefits are being felt by people who have been suffering for the better part of a decade."
Interesting take. Care to give some examples?
5
My uncle, and a classmate of mine.
Trump has nothing to do with getting the economy back into good shape. Obama started the latest big climb back from a Republican caused DEPRESSION, in spite of McConnell et al refusing to help during the last 8 years.
The employment numbers for Trump’s first year were down from Obama’s last year. That tax break the Republicans gave to the wealthiest does very little for the middle class and poor. If low wage service jobs continue to be the bulk of the employment numbers, the economy will tank again. Especially since the Republicans are deregulating the financial industry. Those too big to fail banks will fail again and we all will pay for their greed with higher taxes and more foreclosures. All of us except Trump’s wealthy friends.
Wow, President Obama did a wonderful job
12
It seems the job numbers were boosted by Americans leaving Puerto Rico to find work. MPRGA!
4
Thank you President Obama, trump certainly has done nothing.
10
It's only good news if the jobs added are good jobs
9
A "not good" job is worse than no job at all?
The recovery...in it's ninth year? Suuuuuurrrrrre.
And the synchronized global recovery has been strong since the middle of 2016? Suuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrre.
It was all the brilliance of "Shovel Ready" Obama. Trump had nothing to do with it! Nothing to see here...except how much America misses the economic brilliance of Obama and the Democrats.
Oh, the True Believers! LOL
5
Hey that’s great news! Because an economy can never be too big, right?
2
Many of the folks going work( mostly at medium to higher pay levels) are the very people Obama democrats wrote off and threw under the bus...a lot of union construction guys going to work also giving Trump a nod too.
3
I fail to understand putting a wage growth of 2.6% year to year as bad.
When the inflation is running at less than 2% and more importantly, expectation of a higher inflation is low - wage growth to match inflation seems adequate to me.
I worked in the oil patch 45 years as an engineer. My pay growth came because of course my company also gave middling raises to all to keep up with inflation - so vast majority of its workers would not fall behind.
But my real wage growth came because I got promotions - on account of new trainings, hard work and talent.
Heck, our Congress ties increase in social security payments to inflation - and there is a reason. Keep seniors whole so they don't fall behind.
So, to apply for a whole labor force that wage growth should far exceed inflation rate - is that "on one hand, but the other hand" economists bull.
And let's face it.
The world is in a slow inflation mode because of incredible integration of machines (mainly computers) and workers.
I am pushing 70. But I know in my own life, how much easier life is with a computer. Heck, just these comments are a prime example.
So, let's get off this unnecessary and I add, superfluous emphasis on wage growth unhinged from inflation.
That's not how it works in the real world.
4
RE: For workers, the modest 0.1 percent rise in average hourly earnings was disappointing.
People need to understand that in a world of free trade and free movement of labour , wages of those exposed to global competition must settle on the global average.
Which is MUCH lower than in the US. That nails down US wages.
Economists, notably Krugman, applaud this development because it lifted millions out of poverty. Must those lifted out of poverty do not vote in the US. Nor did it introduce democracy in China
For more , see
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/1997/03/in_pra...
5
One again, how low does the official unemployment number have to get before the workers over 50 (or 40) discarded by the boatload during the Great Recession become employable again?
12
Excellent question.
Uh, what jobs are we gaining? If we are gaining minimum wage jobs that once belonged to workers in high paying jobs, that isn't a gain, but a loss for the middle-class economy. And I don't really call 0.001 uptick in salaries an uptick, more like a really mild hiccup.
9
Under-employed rate hasn't changed: still 5.1 million. Labour participation rate hasn't changed. No wage increases to speak of despite the "tone" of this article that employers are fighting each other for employees, a few employers, I guess. And how many ordinary folks know that meaningful wage increases will more than likely hurt them because it will lead to increases in interest rates on everything that touches their lives. And no mention of the rate of inflation eating the little gain made in 2017. The jobs numbers sounds great but is anything changing?
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
5
The labor participation rate has changed. Just in February it increased to 63% from 60.4%.
I'm sorry but many people I know are out of work Restaurants are going out of business because people don't go out as much and spend that kind of money. The malls are seeing shutdowns of businesses.
I see a lot of homeless people
I see older retired people working as greeters or stockers.
So, while jobs coming off of the Obama years are still being created, wages are low and many people have left/are leaving the area because they can no longer afford to live here.
The celebration seems premature. If a living wage cannot be earned by all than these numbers are not as real as they should be.
What happens when it all bottoms out and not all boats were lifted? What happens when the Trump cuts to social services really take effect?
I'm glad for those doing well but this is simply not good enough in this country.
11
If the economy is so good, why are so many businesses, both big and small, going out of business? Why are companies having layoffs? Why are property crimes skyrocketing?
In the past 40 plus years (my adult working life) the above events were associated not with economic boom times, but with shaky economies.
10
What is your evidence that more companies are now going out of business than before?
I would love to know what percentage of these jobs offer people a living wage. Back in 2016 Forbes reported that over 29% of workers had TWO jobs - to make ends meet. I believe that number has increased. Related Coverage should include the story from 2014 " For A Worker with Little Time Between 3 Jobs, A Nap has Fatal Consequences" or from February of this year "6 Reasons That Pay has Lagged Behind U.S. Job Growth". I will get out the confetti when I know that these jobs offer people a living wage.
14
To understand why wages are flat and unemployment rate is nor falling further:
The civilian labor force participation rate is the number of employed and unemployed but looking for a job as a percentage of the population aged 16 years and over.
The US labor participation rate moved from 62.7% in January to 63% in February. . In 2008 the US labor force was was 66%
To get back to the US employment level of 2008 will require 7.7 million MORE Americans to return to the labour market.
At the current monthly net rate of job creation (313 000 minus 80 000 to adjust for population growth) that will require 33 months, or about 3 more years.
To reach the labour participation rate of the UK ( 78.7%) , more than a decade.
16
This article was a very positive analysis of the economy. They had not choice.
3
Look at the graph, just in the last 3 years of Obama there were 6 months of jobs over 300,000.
Trump 2017 job creation is down about 10% from Obama’s 2016 number and the worst since the Great Recession ended.
2011 2.09 million
2012 2.14 million
2013 2.30 million
2014 2.09 million
2015 2.71 million
2016 2.24 million
2017 2.06 million
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. We got 3 million jobs. And we got the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama ended the Great Recession, raised taxes and gave us the "jobs killing" Obama care and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. We got 11.5 million jobs almost 400% more than W Bush.
And 20 million people got health care.
Seriously, go look up the numbers.
And the projected deficit for 2018 has just jumped to a whopping $1 Trillion thanks to the Republican tax cuts.
An additional $10 Trillion will be put on the debt the next 10 years.
$10 Trillion / 150 Million tax payers = $67,000 per tax payer. How much are you getting in tax breaks the next ten years?
Wait until you and your kids get the bill and Paul Ryan cuts Social Security for your parents.
21
2017 was Obamas economy. Besides, those are terrible numbers early on when recovering from a deep recession, and Obama doubled the national debt to do it. What Trump is doing in 2018 is effectively squeezing water from a rock.
4
PS - if a Republican had the numbers Obama had, Fox News would be thumping their chest and shouting it to the rooftops.
Face if folks, Republicans are much better at self-promotion.
2
@Bradley Taggart
Obama was given a deficit of $1.4 Trillion.
And W Bush also doubled the debt.
But somehow you never complained about that.
W Bush also took a balanced budget, zero deficit, and gave us the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Deficits go up under Republicans.
Deficits go down under Democrats.
And job creation is better under Democrats.
You can convince yourself otherwise but it is you and your children who are getting the bill.
Good luck to you and yours.
4
This kind of job growth yet the unemployment rate stays at 4.1%? It seems somebody in the labor dept is fudging things to deny Trump credit. If the unemployment rate gets to 3.9%, Trump can claim the best rate since 1952. Now that's an election poster, and the left knows it.
4
Looks just like 2014, right ?
1
How many "new" jobs are those being taken by millenials to replace the 10K baby boomers retiring per day in the USA?
5
Thank Goodness that President Trump is getting us out of the Obama doldrums.
10
I'm extremely elated that our economy is purring along. I'm extremely disappointed in our system where comic growth doesn't equate to a living wage for all it's participants. Whether a democrat or a republican is Prez or whether a Dem of Repub is in the majority in Congress this transgression persists. Brook's recent oped believes we can work this out through rational discussion. From my perspective we also need to take it to the streets. Wage theft will find justice through battles won on the streets of America not in the hall of our leaders and corporate elite. IMO
5
The right wing firmly believes that desperation is the main thing that motivates people.
If we're just going to compare job growth between presidents, Obama's administration recorded 75 straight months of job growth by the time he left office, with an unemployment rate of 4.7% compared to 10% when he assumed office, wage growth averaging 2% during a period of mostly global recession, and the sharpest increase in full-time work throughout his administration. Only biased Trump supporters wouldn't acknowledge these facts, and sadly continue to put down Obama's service to the country. But politics aside, presidents really have little effect on these things. The positive economic trend we're seeing is a global phenomenon, and Trump has little if any to do with it.
4
And what's app famed positive about it? Are these jobs paying a living wage? Yeah, right. Thought not.
Most jobs had already been lost once Obama took office. It’s easier to grow when there’s nowhere to go but up.
It's hard to say that this is all due to Trump, when the fact is, corporations are buying back more of their stocks, now that they have money they were able to repatriate. That only has a temporary boost to the economy as the vast amount of that money will be funneled upwards to the already rich and the very rich.
Corporations stock buy back scheme, means that they are funding the stock market, not the stock market funding corporations. By buying back billions of dollars in stock buy backs, imvestors ruch in to buy stock and thereby supporting the new high. Companies buy back more and the stock rises and investors rush in and buy more creating another support level.
But bull markets don't run forever, and given that this one is already 9 years old (Obama over saw 8 years of growth, yet no one in the GOP or a supporter of Trump will admit that, but they will give someone credit where no credit is due. The GOP new "tax reform" will take more than 2 months to show a return or not. The next fiscal year will determine if the loss of revenues from the corporate windfall will add to the already ballooned deficit.
Wages have stayed stagnant even given this employee market, and that's because corporations don't want to impact their bottom lines by paying more, otherwise the money they've spent suppressing wages would have been wasted. No company today, reserves a portion of their profits to expend on RD, wages, new equipment, instead they use taxpayer funded subsides.
3
This is what happens when you put a successful, experienced businessman in as President. It is a shame that the mainstream media cannot share in the good news. They were so much happier with a community organizer with no experience in the White House.
13
Exactly my sentiment. For 8 years economy was stagnant. For my business - it was 8 years of stop and go. Customers would start and stop suddenly. There was never a momentum.
Under Trump there is confidence.
7
Look at the graph, just in the last 3 years of Obama there were 6 months of jobs over 300,000.
Trump 2017 job creation is down about 10% from Obama’s 2016 number and the worst since the Great Recession ended.
2011 2.09 million
2012 2.14 million
2013 2.30 million
2014 2.09 million
2015 2.71 million
2016 2.24 million
2017 2.06 million
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. We got 3 million jobs.
Obama raised taxes and gave us the "jobs killing" Obama care and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. We got 11.5 million jobs almost 400% more than W Bush.
And 20 million people got health care.
Seriously, go look up the numbers.
And the projected deficit for 2018 has just jumped to a whopping $1 Trillion thanks to the Republican tax cuts.
An additional $10 Trillion will be put on the debt the next 10 years.
$10 Trillion / 150 Million tax payers = $67,000 per tax payer. How much are you getting in tax breaks the next ten years?
Wait until you and your kids get the bill and Paul Ryan cuts Social Security for your parents.
4
Job growth coming out of a recession should be rapid, but with Obama it wasn't. Those years are low hanging fruit for job growth. Trump has managed to squeeze water from a rock, and this years numbers could beat anything Obama scraped together.
2
So when they said "Obamacare is a job killer", they were lying to us ?
Who could have guessed it ?
7
Nope didn't lie, the employer mandates were delayed by Obama and have never kicked in. Those were the biggest job killing provisions. We still got massive premium increases (the small business I work for has seen premiums almost double since 2014), and less choice as opposed to "If you like your doc / plan, you can keep your doc / plan" and no $2500 per family savings. It's an abomination and should be generally repealed with reasonable phase-outs and retaining some subsidy options for the truly needy and the pre-existing conditions exclusion. The vast majority of the private market has survived this attempt to kill it, Thank God.
5
This is the best economy we've had, in over a decade. Why can't we just celebrate that instead of arguing about which President gets more credit or blame?
8
How is this better than 2014 or 2015 ?
Seriously ? The jobs numbers are the same but the deficit increased.
Of course you get more spending if you borrow more.
Face facts, Obamacare didn't kill jobs or destroy the economy as Republicans insisted it would. They were also dead wrong in 2007.
I'm glad Obama and Senate Democrats pulled us out of the recession, but it looks like another one is going to come.
4
I predict Trump's will Tweet to claim credit
1
Obama should be looking at all this and feel great embarrassment. Probably not though, and believes the fiction that it is all because of him. Nothing worse than arrogance without substance.
8
Look at the graph, just in the last 3 years of Obama there were 6 months of jobs over 300,000.
Trump 2017 job creation is down about 10% from Obama’s 2016 number and the worst since the Great Recession ended.
2011 2.09 million
2012 2.14 million
2013 2.30 million
2014 2.09 million
2015 2.71 million
2016 2.24 million
2017 2.06 million
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. We got 3 million jobs. And we got the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama ended the Great Recession, raised taxes and gave us the "jobs killing" Obama care and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. We got 11.5 million jobs almost 400% more than W Bush.
And 20 million people got health care.
Seriously, go look up the numbers.
And the projected deficit for 2018 has just jumped to a whopping $1 Trillion thanks to the Republican tax cuts.
An additional $10 Trillion will be put on the debt the next 10 years.
$10 Trillion / 150 Million tax payers = $67,000 per tax payer. How much are you getting in tax breaks the next ten years?
Wait until you and your kids get the bill and Paul Ryan cuts Social Security for your parents.
2
@ Independant,
A single graph measuring a single parameter is misleading - obviously given your comment. Forget the deficit, consider the national debt which under Obama increased more than any other president in history. Part time service sector jobs are not exactly what the American people were looking for.
Cutting job killing useless regulations, stopping a war on politically incorrect industries, actively and energetically promoting an American first policy, reforming an uncompetitive tax system, and more is what Trump and the republicans have done - all the polar opposite of Obama's positions. Sorry bud but only a fool would conclude Obama had anything positive to do with the improving economic conditions.
Thanks, Obama!
10
How much of the paycheck is used to pay rent or a mortgage? The gains made in employment are taken by banks and landlords from high rent and bad loans.
5
Jobs haven't been the real problem for a while now. Anemic salaries with ever raising costs of living, healthcare, schooling, and day care have put too many families under water. Not that this President cares; i.e. - if Trump is happy then every one better be happy - or else!
13
It's good that more people have jobs, even if many don't pay well. But if Trump's agenda has helped the economy grow by, say, getting rid of business regulations, what is the long-term cost? Polluted water, dirty air, toxic waste? Where is the investment in clean energy, infrastucture, education and job training? Nowhere to be found. Not to mention lack of health care and reproductive freedom for women. The growth we have now won't last - it never does - and our kids will be in trouble due to Republicans ignoring the long-term.
6
Eric *** that is exactly right ... if some jobs were saved in the mining industry because now they pollute a river easier, is that better? I don't think so, Not when it will cost billions to clean up the mess. Which has already happened. Much of what is happening now seems like short term gain.
In 2015, all Republicans ever did was talk about the labor participation rate.
They insisted it was the REAL unemployment rate and that nothing else mattered.
The labor participation rate is lower than it was in 2015, and is no higher than it was in 2016, so by their own metrics, the economy is no better than it was when Obama left.
9
We already had jobs. People need higher salaries. Unemployment has been low for some time now. However, the problem has been 1) a loss in tech jobs to India and China, and 2) highly competitive positions paying substantially less than they have in the past.
13
"The average hourly wage grew by 0.1 percent. It grew by 0.3 percent in January."
This is no cause for celebration. Trump seems to be going down the same path as Obama. Creating a lot of $12hr. garbage gigs. The investor class will pop open an expensive bottle of champagne. Most of us will "celebrate" with some leftover pizza and a glass of tap water.
Had enough? Go left. Hard left.
8
Well said.
So Don the con has conned the American public into believing the tax cuts will make them rich. Wait till after the taxes are filed and after the tariff's have taken effect.
8
As we speak there is no one at the helm, Trump is gloating in the mirror over his success in not going aground in year one, and the GOP is partying below deck over bamboozling the public and getting away with it, all while we hear some economists yelling, ICEBERGS ahead.
4
That they have not normalized much much earlier is a HUGE error. The coming crash will be entirely blamed on the Fed this time around.
Sure it would have meant we didnt have this brief moment of full unemployment. But when the financial sector now eats mainstreet, and with every boom and bust enriches its punters at the expense of the crumbs for mainstreet, to just rinse repeat does huge long term harm.
How about a living wage, or unemployment benefits,health care and vocational training for all the unemployed and underemployed, and letting money find its price. It is only then that real growth will occur, growth which does not simply increase the size of the next bust and inequality will lessen.
4
The Obama economy is really doing fantastic.
7
I'm grateful for Obama's 2017 tax cut.
7
Yep all it took is for Obama to leave, and a new administration to reverse all his economic policies. Doing better than Obama is child's play.
6
How are these numbers that much different than the last 4 ?
So it's not any better than Obama's economy, that's for sure.
And considering that Obama inherited an economy and freefall and Trump inherited this, there's no question who did better in their first 14 months. Obama by a landslide.
The graph is right there for all of us to see.
4
It is both disgusting and amusing watching the left twist themselves into pretzels trying to spin every bit of good news under Trump as bad, all in the interests of increasing their chances of winning in the upcoming midterms.
18
isn't it exactly what Reps and Trump himself during the Obama's tenure? Why is such displeasure now?
5
No Yulia, we didn’t protest and say “notmypresident”. Gd knows if we did. You would say we are racists.
1
Not a bad point, yulia. It was unfair to obama as it is unfair to Trump now. And some of us did acknowledge Obama's achievements, when he had them. Honesty demands that.
1
Everyone knows the "official" unemployment rate, just like the CPI, is a joke meant to con the people. What matters is the number of people who would LIKE a job, but aren't collecting unemployment insurance because they have been out of work too long, and have generally given up on finding any kind of decent job. That number is rarely published.
So if you are collecting unemployment insurance from a decent job, but can't find a job better than McDonalds, as soon as your insurance runs out, the unemployment rate drops. And that's a good thing?
People are so ignorant when it comes to statistics. So easy to fool.
11
Silly buggers. Economics is a science in the same way that Alchemy was in the past. The chronic unemployment problem was created by policy makers who treated people like fungible assets. If a machinist in a steel mill lost his job he was going to move and to transform himself into a machinist in another industry. That's not how things work for people over 40. Industry is going ot have to go out and attract these people and bring them to where the work is. It is going to happen. The measure of unemployment doesn't take the millions of under-employed and "retired" into account properly.
6
You’d think even Trump followers would be able to get a job in this economy.
5
More than 800,000 Americans entered the labor pool in February. This was the largest increase since 1983!!!! A 35-year record!
And that was not reported by the NYT, and the comments to this article seem to be another negative lamentation by those who can't be happy with good news.
14
Thank you president Obama
4
Yes, less regulation and tax cuts - thanks Obama!
10
Danny, I have a bridge I want to sell. Are you interested to buy it.
2
Good news for the 1% .Goldman Sachs made a killing . The rest of us got low wages , temp jobs or no jobs if you’re over 50. Check out the labor participation rate (low 60’s) if you want to see how the other 90% is doing .
15
Yeah, Hillary and Bill are laughing all the way to the bank, cant give Trump credit for anything can you..
4
@Paul Cuomo: I'll give Trump credit when he does something that deserves credit. I won't hold my breath.
4
Wages aren't keeping up with inflation, that is the real story not the number of jobs added per month.
11
Fairly anemic numbers spun to give the impression of a strong, rebounding economy, and of course they neglected to mention the abysmal labor participation rate.
That the average hourly wage grew by .1% is “a bit disappointing to workers” and it gets discussed in terms of its effect on inflation and Wall Street, rather than the continued economic malaise among the working class.
Now that the elite have unlimited access to the cheapest Labor pools and markets around the globe, their concern for the domestic working class is nil. That, combined with the unusual operational definition of “democracy” that the elite and their media employ, wherein the wealthy get everything they want policy-wise, means the downward trajectory of the working class will continue unimpeded.
12
Hey Ed, don't trip over the homeless in SF, Obama and Warren really helped them didn't they!
5
I haven't had a raise since I started at my job- two years ago.
8
Don't wait on your company to give you a raise, go find another position at a different company for higher pay. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get significant, or any, pay increases by staying at the same company. At least you are in a major market, and shouldn't have a problem shopping around for a better deal.
2
Does your employer force you to work for them?
Well, thank the Mayor for standing up and thinking more about the illegals than you
If you cannot make it economically in the United States, then you can't make it anywhere. This economy is robust, dynamic, and absolutely packed with opportunities. You must have the mindset to take advantage of it. Waiting for your employer or the economy to be more "fair" in how they pay you is an endless game of waiting.
8
So what kind of opportunities? And if there are so much opportunities why are wages not growing?
4
Memo to the working class -- life isn't "fair" you losers!
However, life is "robust" and "dynamic." And "absolutely packed with opportunities!" Just get the right mindset!
Schrodinger's economy according to the left:
If something bad happens, it's because of Trump.
If something good happens, it's because of Obama.
15
How many of these jobs contained full benefits? How many of these jobs offered wages that were so high that people could now think of buying homes?
WAGES ARE FLAT...that's the real story.
22
And the reason that wages are flat is that so many people who gave up looking for work during the Obama years are now coming back into the workforce. The supply of workers meets the demand for workers, thus wages have not yet had any pressure to rise. That's economics....
7
Also, something that never gets discussed in these articles is the Consumer Price Index. Inflation no longer means much to the paycheck to paycheck schlub on the streets. He's trying to survive and the CPI has been taking off over the last few months, as well as long term. Housing costs are not only higher in the more 'prosperous' sections of the country, so are food prices, transportation, fees for services: just about everything that's required to live.
Wages have been flat for a long time. It's nice too see the Fed prepared to fight the 'good' fight and stick to its long, slow interest rate adjustments in the face of tax cuts and deficit growth. Nobody wants to see 70s type inflation again. However, 70s inflation reflected, albeit imperfectly, retail prices and overall costs of living. Not so sure that today's reality 'trickles' down from corporate and Wall Street offices. Not only is it scary to move to a more expensive region, it's been getting more expensive to stay in place, as well. Particularly if there is, rather oddly, little incentive in the form of an increased wage. We're average schlups remember? Not AI engineers or stock brokers. Sometimes, its just not practical to perform the way some economists think we should. So we sit and wait for our buck and half benefit from 'tax reform' and wander what new demon will arise tomorrow.
5
There is little that should make many of us giddy where we see the lottery as the best hope for ourselves or our children to overcome the financial hardships that we face now and in the future. Maybe Wallstreet?
4
Low unemployment, low inflation, moderate growth. Things can't get much better. Maybe it's hard to reconcile that this is about as good as it gets...
1
It’s good to read about more jobs but after a 1.5 trillion tax cut it is expected. My concern is we also added a massive increase to the deficit to create these jobs. This is the third Republican President to do so, in time it did not end well, at all. If history is relevant here a deep economic downturn will occur and the promise of growth paying down the debt again will not be the reality. I hope Americans can recognize this economic hoax and the political party responsible.
6
So, did Obama add to the deficit?
4
To AZPurdue, and what choice did he have after the Great Recession Bush left him and he still left Trump a solid growing economy.
2
AZ, Obama did add to the deficit--to keep a roof over people's heads and food in their mouths after the Great Recession. That is when you're SUPPOSED to run deficits, not when the economy is doing well.
3
-- A lack of employment is a greater problem than income inequality, they argue, citing evidence that suggests “misery haunts the lives of the long-term not working.” --
Yet here we are throwing billions of dollars into automation that will put MILLIONS of working age men and women - and men are already hurting drastically - on the sidelines of our society with no means to contribute. Can someone please explain to me how giving people nothing to do with their lives helps build a thriving society?
42
A thriving society is not the goal making the wealthiest wealthier is the goal, there can be no other conclusion.
8
How about a job in fixing or creating automation? They will require manufacturing, maintenance, software, calibration, etc. Think ahead.
We'll always need plumbers. I can't seem to find one around here.
Part of the "mysterious" lack in worker productivity is due to hiring and pay practices. Although workers don't necessarily work harder because of pay increases, all of use lose time when HR hires people with no experience because they are cheaper or hires people with irrelevant experience because they don't really understand what the position requires, or offers a good trainee too little money. Yet, how do we train someone and still do the rest of our jobs, especially when we know that the less than qualified worker will probably leave after a year. The poor hiring and retention problems only get worse as unemployment goes down. They need to be addressed with better pay all around and the acknowledgement that many workers need to be trainers, or "master" workers to use the terminology of guilds.
1
The report would much different if H. Clinton would have won. Continued stagnation, and emphasis on a "new normal" mediocre economy, ever lower labor participating rates. All while sending $100s of billions of US taxpayer money to Paris for bogus climate accord.
9
313,000 people who worked 30 hours per week and got company health insurance were cut back to 15 hours per week and dropped from the company health care plan. 313,000 15 hour per week jobs were created without any health care benefits.
If God did not choose you to be one of his righteous Managers or CEOs, you don't deserve full-time employment or health care benefits.
6
We must all adapt to the modern economy. That is how it is.
The modern economy is God and His word is Law. That is how it is.
What a vast difference between trump and obama. trump is getting it done. obama did nothing for the poor and middle class. The only people that thrived under obama were the rich who got richer thanks to 0% rates from the feds.
13
Please explain how the trend line in the graphs provided have changed between Obama and Trump? 80 months of steady growth and Trump has only been president for 14 months and had his budget and tax policies in place for 3?
10
Obama created artificial asset value through Fed-coordinated market manipulation - including acquisition of longer term debt. This was phenomenal for the 1% with assets. It also caused extreme inequality.
Trump has simply allowed markets to recalibrate and flourish. This helps all - including those whose wealth is derived from labor and not assets.
4
The uptick in manufacturing is tremendously good news.
8
Higher wages and driver shortages in trucking will provide incentives for rapid introduction of autonomous vehicles. The robots are coming....
31
If this does happen, it will be only good for us. Great productivity is great prosperity. Machines have been replacing humans forever now. But we humans use that as a means to do better things and have better standards of living.
1
I've got a cousin driving trucks who told me last year that self-driving trucks would have only limited applicability to trucking in the near future. He's got about 13-15 years before he can retire, so I hope he's right!
1
So what jobs will appear for these millions of people who won't be driving any more? Does anyone have the slightest idea about this?
1
Important to note, “ economist were expecting 200k”. Maybe the economist aren’t really as knowledgeable as we are led to believe.
6
Month to month numbers are difficult to predict - but they are fairly accurate over the longer term 3 - 12 months. Weather events, post weather event cleanup or rebuilding, a large business expanding or shutting down, holidays, etc can all affect monthly figures. Economists have dramatically improved their data collection and models over time. When they say the economy will grow at 2.5%, not 3% or 4% as Trump wants - you have to believe them. And when economists say a steel tariff will lead to more job losses than gains, they will of course, be correct.
4
Every increase in the number of jobs is good, nonetheless the mere fact that this growth was not matched by wage growth is the real problem. There is only one explanation to this disparity, CORPORATE GREED !
12
You can't use the same answer for every question.
3
When equally good numbers were reported for several years under Obama, Trump said the numbers were "fake". It's funny how his supporters bash Obama ad nauseam and credit Trump with something that started years before he was elected and has essentially stayed on the same track. The only real newsworthy thing here is that Trump hasn't yet managed to kill the economic momentum he was handed, despite his efforts.
25
Big difference is the JOB PARTICIPATION RATES
3
Some people are never happy. They must be depressive by nature. Go on vacation!
3
"Competition for drivers has become fierce. Ms. Swonk said she had heard reports of trucking companies paying drivers six-figure salaries, plus $20,000 signing bonuses to lure them from competitors. Companies are also offering to train new drivers — even though many end up being poached by other companies. “They’re still losing them to other places,” Ms. Swonk said."
But there's a solution, lets get those self driving trucks already!!
2
It seems that the less Trump listens to economic gurus of the Krugman type the better our economy is doing. The question is, why do we still read and listen to these gurus when we should really send them packing.
11
Oh, you think this is Trump's doing? How cute!
2
I think Larry Kudlow is the most accurate to date with the economy.
He has been pretty good at calling the economy for several years now.
Maybe President Trump will hire Kudlow to take over Gary Cohn old position.
The article denotes the problem...for the most part business despite the one sided "tax reform" act, in certain areas, they don't want to pay their potential workers a reasonable salary.
And a bonus is a one time benefit, and will not help anyone with what is left of their pensions and social security, which is already being stolen from us by a one-sided Congress to pay for the wealthiest and their tax breaks and our $1.5 trillion deficit.
Finally, this doesn't resolve the theft of benefits to the poorest in our country by a one-sided Congress.
14
Do "wages" include the entire employercompensation such as healthcare costs?
That needs to be considered too.
1
I think people are missing one of the key metrics in this report. 800,000 people were added to the labor force. Remember that Trump lied because he said that he was expecting a 4% GDP and economists and the media knew this was impossible - the labor force would continue to shrink. A 2% GDP was the new norm. I hope Dr Krugman is working on his non-political, unbiased assessment of this report.
3
While I've never been a fan of DT, I'm happy to see some good news.
Historians will tell us later if what was good for General Motors, was good for America.
2
The good news comes as a consequence of the work put in before
Trump. Now he can claim and cherry pick everything as His. He is the man who knows everything and does everything so perfectly and as never done by anyone before!
3
I can tell you right now: NO.
1
We are looking at the wrong economic indicators — while GDP rises, number of jobs grows and unemployment falls, the fate of working families only gets grimmer. Over 50% of K-12 students now qualify for lunch subsidy.while at least 30% of working families now miss one or more meals a month to make ends meet.
Our political/economic fate is directly tied to the economics of working families, yet we continue to ignore the statistic that best measures their wellbeing — total wages as a percentage of GDP. In other words, their ability to purchase the fruits of their labor. In order for today’s working families wages to match their 1972 share of the economy, we would need to give every full time worker a pay increase of $1,000/month. This shortfall has arisen despite the fact that the portion of women employed has grown from one third to two thirds and their pay compared to men has doubled since 1972.
As a result of this weakening demand for goods and services, we see corporations capitulating on growth and buying back their stock to prop up its price. The extreme economic pressure on working families has also resulted in the polarization of our political system and a willingness out of desperation to follow a demagogue.
We continue to ignore this at our peril.
171
so true.
6
Ok, I get what you are saying.
How do we improve this?
That statistic about workers' 1972 share of the economy versus today is truly worrisome. If they can't keep up even in a boom, imagine what a bust will look like!
5
Basically the same steady gains since early 2014. The Feb 2018 313,000 number offsets basically zero gain back in Aug or Sep 2017.
The more interesting story is on wage growth. Most of the 2.6% gain in Feb, combined with downward revision of 2.8% in Jan can be attributed to widespread minimum wage increases by states and large companies like Wal-Mart.
The huge deficit exploding corporate tax cuts appear to be flowing to investment and investors rather than employees. What a surprise.
12
But that's who invests. Cannot be too bad, can it?
"Rather than moving to higher-income areas to take advantage of the increased employment opportunities, people remain stranded in areas that are economic dead ends. There are many theories about the cause, but rising housing costs certainly deter moving, as does the difficulty of transferring assistance like Medicaid across state lines."
This is sad. There was an article about this about a year ago ("Jobs market mystery: Where are the men?") and it appears to be getting worse - I wondered then how many figured Trump would help them get good jobs. We're still not seeing manufacturing move to these regions - some help might have been tying corporate tax cuts to bringing job/factories back to the Rust Belt, rural America, and coal country, but it wasn't done. Education is also needed and poor Red states don't put much importance on it (noted by Oklahoma and West Virginia teachers' salaries). I understood Trump was trying to pander votes, but was bad when he said he LOVES the uneducated.
5
We are still 4 percent off full employment and it is the harder road. These numbers confirm the revitalization of the urban areas of the country but the areas of our country that have been decimated by trade and off shoring jobs are still stranded in a world of hurt. These areas need business investment to provide jobs and raise their standard of living ... I hope it isn't too far off.
As for "poor red states" not putting much importance on education I would find it hard to justify money on a college education when there are few factory/manufacturing jobs that require one. High skill jobs are in demand, low skill service jobs plentiful but mid level jobs, manufacturing and factory work, is what has been decimated and that was their lifeblood. It was traded for cheap foreign goods to US consumers and foreign labor for the wall Street darlings.
1
An actual 5% unemployment rate is considered full employment in that there are about 5% of the population that cannot/should not hold a job. Criminals, completely disabled, etc. At over 95% you know there are people working that should not be and I have to deal with them every day.
3
Agree! 4% unemployment rate is understood to mean full employment for everyone who wants to work. 5% to 6% in Canada.
Wow that's alot of McDonald's opening up.
8
Although he is trying his very best, not even trump can destroy the economy in 13 months. Just wait until those tariffs kick in.
21
'Taxing' other countries at nominal rates who wish to do business in the US just as they 'Tax' the US for wanting to do business in their respective countries rather than CONTINUALLY get run roughshod over because the US has the largest economy.
EVERYONE pays taxes; its how a DEMOCRACY functions.
The US is the most benevolent country in the world and to then expect even more handholding rather than some modicum of fairness is beyond the pale.
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
3
Agree with Trump on most things but agree with Reagan on tariffs. "We are in the same boat with our trading partners. If they shoot a hole in the bottom of the boat is it really our best strategy to shoot another hole in the bottom to teach them a lesson?"
Put another way we no not export enough cars because they put a tariff on our goods. So we will put a tariff on the stuff we make the cars with, amounting to an additional tariff on those exported cars.
To me, this wage scale jump, resembles a flea jump. Wage scales still malinger, with business calling the shots. The one collective power that was singularly responsible for creating a prosperous post WW11 middle class, the unions, have been whittled down to representing a mere 6.5% of private industry. The much hoped for , almost mythical holy grail of a 15% national minimum wage, remains in most states, just a fairy tale. Consequently the bulk of the 99% of us still are living on the edge, struggling to keep our heads above water. It appears as if this stagnation of wage scales will continue until a wave of Democratic Socialism sweeps our nation
75
I'll take our standard of living over your average socialist country any time. I worked contracts and lived pay day to pay day but now develop land and provide low cost housing. No grants, no subsidies just a lot of hard work.
2
Yeah, but they all have iPhones, and internet, and cable, and Jordan's...being poor in America isn't what it used to be.
The average socialist country is in Europe where people have healthcare, education, child care, six weeks paid vacation, awesome infrastructure, reasonable work days,, lunch hours, and other things that make life good for workers, not just CEOs.
Go to Europe and see how life can be for workers.
Looks like many posters didn't finish reading the story after they heard what they wanted to hear.
The last part shows it is actually getting worse for the main demographic of Trump voters, working-age men. I'm sure it's partly because they still refuse to learn new skills or relocate to find better careers or job markets, but also because nothing this administration has done is directly beneficial to the "not my fault the factory/mill/mine closed" workers.
21
I have a handful of friends who have been laid off. My company has given a 1.9% raise. They also went through lay offs of 50 year old workers and replaced them with 25 year old workers. Something is wrong, I have no faith in business news or government. This is where it gets tricky because you want to believe what the times reports but when you are seeing the opposite of what is being reported, what are you to believe.
20
Something half-way or, perhaps, a little of both?
Good news is always welcome. But trying to attribute responsibility is a bit of a fool's errand. Nevertheless one thing is clear...economic indicators are myopic. The good news sounds like a burgeoning bubble economy when looked at over the medium and longer term. The small middle class tax benefits end in 3-4 years. The huge loss of tax revenue owing to the tax reform will constrain Government spending. Corporate profits, despite a tightening labor market, are being used for stock buybacks and dividends benefiting the 10% of America at the top who own 80% of stocks in circulation. Foreign and domestic investment is increasingly questionable. A trade war looms. Steel and aluminum input prices to manufacturing will increase raising domestic and export prices. Income and wealth skewing will continue to get worse further constraining growth, especially once small tax benefits disappear. And we're highly polarized, working our way towards impeachment, forfeiting our vestiges of moral authority and increasingly isolationist with our ridiculous America First approach to the world. But we will need more laundry machines as we we're taken to the laundry and restaurants will do a booming business --we're lunch....
2
. . . and the end of the world is looming ahead. And all this is just because of Trump.))
1
Our government does not understand the necessity to create manufacturing to replace the imports, particularly in the Eastern Heartland. The attitude is let someone else, like private industry, carry the load. This is impossible with education and infrastructure being major components.
Globalization is merely a way to sell American assets to foreign countries while putting our valuable workers on drugs.
How many manufacturing plants need to be built, how many highways and trains are needed to be connected to the plants? How are people supposed to get to the manufacturing plants if commuting by car is too expensive?
These are problems neither Republicans nor Democrats are even mentioning.
Government needs to be part of the solution, not just a negotiating tool to ship more jobs overseas.
3
Why do you think Trump has just signed tariff legislation to punish countries who dump government subsidized products into America at the cost of american jobs? and why do you think he has also proposed a massive infrastructure bill to address the deterioration in our roads and bridges? Read the news, man.
2
There are stupid tariffs and very stupid tariffs. A very stupid tariff is a tariff on steel and aluminum that increases the costs of every product made in the USA that uses those metals. This increases consumer prices and makes products produced in the USA less competitive relative to those made outside the USA using steel and aluminum priced at the world market rather than the artificially propped-up protected US steel prices.
A less stupid tariff is the retaliatory tariff that will be put on US motorcycles (Harley Davidson) that will not raise any costs on any EU producers, or raise prices for anyone in the EU, except for buyers of motorcycles.
Protectionism is the progressivism of fools. Gandhi was a great statesman but a horrible economist. Just as the ignorant in the USA argue that American workers who earn $15 per hour should not have to compete with Chinese workers who make $2 per hour, Gandhi thought that Indian workers should not have to compete with American and European workers who have the benefit of modern machines. As a result, India adopted protectionism. In 1947 the per capita income of India was similar to countries such a South Korea. By 1977 the per capita income and standard of living in South Korea was many times that of India. India has since largely abandoned protectionism and has benefited immensely from free trade. Just as David Ricardo proved would be the case when he developed comparative advantage..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4148256
1
My cleaning service makes $30/hour/employee. Is anyone collecting taxes on that?
Certainly when I take the cash out of my wallet to pay them I have already paid 35% on that money to the Federal government as MY income tax. My State takes another 12% of my check before the cash hits my wallet.
My City takes an even $15k in tax per year for the privilege of living in a home I already own. If they decide my house is worth twice what it is worth today...that is $30k per year for a house I already own and I dont' plant to sell.
My school system and my library take another 5% of every dollar I earn.
Every local shop I use takes 8.25% of every dollar I pay them.
That is all well and good...except that my VOTE counts exactly the same as the family of 7 down the street living on the public dole and not paying a single tax or contributing a single product to US economy. Their 6 kids take up a LOT of city dollars in housing, welfare, and education even though 4 of them will drop out before actually achieving a degree that prepares them to contribute to local, state of Federal coffers.
Trump in 2020: Make America Fair Again!
9
Try counting your blessings and stop making disparaging comments about less fortunate people. People who have jobs are able to pay taxes. As a citizen it is your responsibility to do so. And as a citizen you are free to live in the city of your choice. If the taxes in New York are too burdensome for you there are other cities and states that charge less.
It would take one major illness to wipe out your savings and equity in your house. And then you would have to turn into one of "those people" who go on welfare and SNAP to survive. Like I said, count your blessings.
3
Instead of looking a the family of 7 down your street, raise your sight and look at the families of 2 or 3 up in the skyscrapers. Those are the ones who take home the taxes you pay because they don't pay all that much. And how about the $31,000 dinner sets, 130K doors, expensive flights, corrupt business deals - have you considered that money?
The guys down the street may take some city dollars, but by comparison with what the ones up in the sky take....
2
Bravo!
1
Well, let's see now the November mid-term Congressional elections are when progressives anticipate a blue sweep of both cambers of Congress "Bye Felicia!"
8
Who cares. Are any real jobs with good pay or are they all McJobs?
America and its Liberal media bullhorn attempts to try and say to us that it cares, but America cares for nought but WORK. America is a salt mine....I visited Spain and while it is not a 'rich' country it has riches far in excess of America.
6
Under Trump there has been a big increase in jobns for lawyers.
10
Instead of an uptick in community activist roles, which we saw under Obama.
3
Nothing like good news for the economy to unhinge the left.
10
I received a 12% pay raise this year and hit 130% of my bonus. This was not related to a promotion, and raises and bigger bonuses were par for the course at our firm this year, and I’ve been with the same firm for the past 15 years.
It would be too risky for us - and maybe even a little gauche - to directly attribute this to Trunp’s tax cuts (a massive cut on the corporate front, but our accountant says more is on the way on the personal front), but we all know what’s going on. Trump really has made things far, far better.
And even my wife - who had been a Clinton voter - has seen the light now. But for her it was seeing the 40% bite that the Feds took out of our bonus.
We work extremely hard for this. Lots of nights away from home. Lots of early mornings, late nights, with a lot of education and hard work to get here. For leftists to act like they’re due a 40% portion or more of what we make, or to call our demonstrable post-Trump gains “crumbs,” or to act like this is just a continuation of Obama’s policies shows just how out of their element these progressives are.
The left should really stick to artisanal teas and micro-aggressions. And glorying in Wakanda and minorities at the Oscars. Leave the military, business, and international relations to the adults in the room, to Trump and the GOP. You’ve literally just created another Republican in our household, and you drove me out in 2016. I don’t think I can come back to the Democratic Party.
18
I'm glad things are going well for you. Please don't forget the higher fuel, health care costs and that $40,000 of debt you just acquired due to Trump's Tax giveaway! How's that bonus feeling now?
6
As self employed my account has me save 55% of any money I take out of my business. 38% for Fed Income, 5% for State Income, 16% for both sides of social security tax (employee contribution AND employer contribution). Then pay property tax, save for retirement, save for the kids education...not much left over. I have a good life but it takes hard work and persistence. I have become resentful of those who don't try to better themselves or their children, those who cheat and don't pay taxes.
I haven't seen many social programs make a difference in the lives of those they are created to help. I now think they tend to make the population dependent and cause vertical transmission of poverty.
I hope our children see that it is hard work that builds a life, handouts may be there for some, but they aren't transformed, but fixed in the mess they started in.
I do hope these jobs help elevate people through work.
3
That 40% taken from your bonus is taken on the front end because it is a bonus payment. When you file your income taxes, you only pay your income tax rate on that bonus. So if your income tax rate was only 25%, you would be receiving that 15% back in the form of a tax refund - or to cover what you owe if your withholding was not correct.
1
Great, the economy is working for rich and 1%! Yay!!
Another month of poor wage growth but the rich keep getting richer.
Where is DJT on workers and wages? Remember "I love the uneducated"?
14
lol. I know too many female college graduates over 50 who are working two or three jobs with no benefits and low wages (think $12 -$16/hour). It's disheartening when your education, experience and age puts you out of the running for living-wage employment.
14
Ok. So someone had better hire me soon, before someone else snatches up this 57 year old bargain.
11
:-) Hang in there!
1
how can we believe anything the government says...
4
“It’s really hard to find any bad news.”
Um, just see the next paragraph.
"Those Left Behind"
5
89 months of low wage job increases; Trump can not claim credit for this;except the low wage part. Ray Sipe
6
Thanks President Trump for the great economy and job creation. I see this great economic news is buried down the front page and the old news on North Korea is the hot topic. Our labor participation rate is going up again and that is great news.
10
Nothing more amusing than watching liberals try to convince themselves that the country's economic heath isn't really improving under and because of Trump. I suspect by the end of his first term that their cognitive dissonance will be so bad that they will barely be able to see straight.
12
We see just fine that Trump and the GOP are riding Obama's economy.
6
Suspect as you wish, but what you assume is happening is not really happening. By the end of his first term, if he makes it, the gaping, festering wound of a hemorrhaging economy will be starkly evident.
2
How many of these jobs pay a living wage? Is the American worker better off then they were 10 years ago?
109
ask the folks at Disney and the West Virginia teachers who just got a 5% raise to likely a still sub-par wage for employees.
6
They think they are better off cause Trump said they are.
2
Not many. And no.
1
Reading the comments is very interesting. They range from it CANT be true to thank you Obama.
What we are seeing is the result of the tax cuts. With more jobs posting, people who quit the job hunt are back in the hunt. Thank you, Mr. Trump.
8
So this is what 42 percent unemployment looks like.
5
This is key:
Rather than moving to higher-income areas to take advantage of the increased employment opportunities, people remain stranded in areas that are economic dead ends. There are many theories about the cause, but rising housing costs certainly deter moving, as does the difficulty of transferring assistance like Medicaid across state lines.
A lack of employment is a greater problem than income inequality, they argue, citing evidence that suggests “misery haunts the lives of the long-term not working.”
__
DESPITE the well-intentioned efforts of the ACA, for those on Medicaid moving 'up in the line' are fearful of moving to a more prosperous area with a lower cost-of-living/better employment opportunities simply because their 'place in line' will be lost since Medicaid dollars don't follow the individual but are meted out separately by each state.
6
“If there is public interest in infrastructure, where do workers come from?” The response, of course, is from immigrants willing to do jobs that require hard manual labor. I suspect corporate America supports using immigrant labor. The Republicans need to get onboard.
3
Could there be any correlation to illegal workers being deported? Or the fact that less are flowing north into the country and there is stronger enforcement of our immigration laws? Ditto the average wage increases.
16
Real results of Trump presidency. Over a quarter million jobs added in just one of the shortest months of the year. WOW. I assume most of these jobs are added by private sector,. The Trump critics have been complaining that he is not filling cozy government positions and that there is an exodus of people leaving government jobs because of the Trump admin. Please don't let the door hit you on your way out. America has now become great again because every able bodied man or woman, African American or Hispanic, Christian or Muslim or Hindu or atheist, whatever sexual orientation is able to find a job, maybe not a dream job but a job that will allow a person to make a living in affordable parts of the country. The last 14 months since Trump inauguration there is now a serious new problem, not enough people available to fill jobs with specialized skills. I saw an article about how some rural areas of the US have difficulty finding nurses and doctors. A new term has been coined for that "hospital deserts" which in simple English means that there are rural areas around the US where there is no emergency med. care within 100 miles, because there are no medically qualified people to fill hospitals. I have often advocated a cadre of medically qualified and certified personnel on govt. managed health care plan to be placed in rural US. We spend 1 billion dollars a day or 365 billion dollars+ annually on medicaid alone. Why not manage all that much money to ensure health care for all.
7
he last 14 months since Trump inauguration there is now a serious new problem, not enough people available to fill jobs with specialized skills.
That is not true. There are plenty of people with specialized skills that do not get hired because human resources departments nationwide feel that the best person for whatever job is someone who looks and acts just like them. Specialized businesses will train you on the job, if they like you, or if you have a connection or an "in."
Otherwise you are toast.
2
So the jobs have gone to where we need them least and the ones suffering in the states that voted for Trump are still suffering from lack of jobs. Maybe they should move to where the jobs are or vote in someone next time who can draw in businesses to these regions?
1
The best thing I can say about Trump and the Republican Congress is that they have not managed to slow the economic growth of the 2 Obama administration. Gee and wow! The average wages grew by 0.1 percent. Less than a penny for every dollar you earn while the bosses are getting millions of dollars.
11
In Silicon Valley, right after big tax breaks being voted in, there are now layoffs from companies doing well. These companies are using the extra money from the tax breaks to pay for layoff packages of older workers. My friend was laid off last week from Oracle after being there 20+ years. He is in his late 50s and will probably be replaced by someone in their 20s who makes half of what he does. Oracle's stock is up. How can anyone get an increase in salary when they can be replaced by younger/cheaper workers both here and overseas? Instead of a pay increase you get a pink slip.
55
Cali hasn't passed 34 new laws against that yet? (BTW, there ARE existing federal laws against age discrimination. Your friend should either follow up with the EEOC, or get into consulting.)
1
I could not agree more! You just have to love this, directly from Facebook's "ad target" business page: Age. "Target ads to people within an age range". Our daughter reports having seen ads on her FB page for the kind and level of work my husband used to do. At age 58 he was "RIF"ed and replaced by someone many years his junior who had much less experience. My husband incidentally, was lauded for years by the companies for whom he substantially increased revenue, for being a great boss, and for problem-solving and redirecting his groups on short notice. Every time one meets someone with a business card that says "consultant" with a home number listed on the card, it is most likely that they are not working at all, and already living on retirement funds. I'm starting to think that before too long, we will see "cardboard box" condos under every bridge in the country. It's painful.
3
Are the jobs good jobs with decent pay and benefits? Are they permanent jobs? Do they offer the employees opportunities for advancement, education, stability so as to be able to plan out a life for more than one quarter? Who is getting these jobs? Who is being left out? (I know my demographic, people between the ages of 50-60 has a lot of difficulties no matter how well qualified we are.)
The first question I am seeing now on online applications is whether or not one is living in the area. Companies are no longer willing to help pay moving costs. Companies are also asking us, online, when we graduated from high school and college rather than asking us when we were born. It's amazing with all the complaining companies are doing about not being able to find qualified applicants how much discrimination remains out there in terms of age, gender, race, etc. There's no interest in training an employee, hiring someone with even 80% of what's wanted and training, or paying for experience (jobs listed as entry level but requiring experience beyond that for example). As long as employers refuse to pay for experience, hire qualified people, etc., there are going to be many unemployed who are not counted or looking because they've given up.
Apparently America doesn't need people who are over 50 in the workplace. I think that we should be allowed to retire with our full social security benefits if we're unable to find jobs no matter how hard we look.
48
Instead they propose suggesting yet another increase in the retirement age. Which is nothing more than a benefit cut.
3
Almost every month, when the jobs numbers are released, we are told that the numbers are more than unnamed analysts expected, or less than unnamed analysts expected. We are told this as though the failed prediction is some kind of surprise. Since there is no surprise that the prediction is wrong, why is the error reported as news, or mentioned at all?
4
The reason the predictions are reported is that the markets are poised to move up or down depending on the news. True, the actual result is almost never right where the economists predict. But the market will react according to how far over or under they are. Today, for instance, the market is up strongly because the report was so favorable.
Firms make investment decisions based on expectations.
1
This article is misleading. It says the average hourly wage growth increased but that is not the same as the REAL average hourly wage growth which has decreased due to the increase in the Consumer Price Index. Also how could economists be THAT FAR OFF? Their forecast was 200k? What were the factors?
12
How many jobs were lost? The unemployment rate stayed the same and wages are still low. The GOP (Bush) knew how to pop the bubble. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
37
There is really one indisputable fact: Any manufacturing job done here can be done for less elsewhere, unless it is one which requires training and education as repetitive motion jobs can be done by robotic action. Tariffs are no substitute for education and training and have reciprocal negative impacts in terms of higher priced consumer imports and higher inflation which will eat up wage increases and not lead to repeated "one time bonuses".
41
Agree 100%. We will USA stop looking backward and start looking forward? High Tech and Manufacturing training is required to move workers to the future. Supporting dying industries is not a good long term goal.
Trump: "IF YOU DON'T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON'T HAVE A COUNTRY"
So how many of your hotels were built with American steel????
4
Why is higher prices for consumer imports a bad thing?
And just because "any manufacturing job done here can be done for less elsewhere" doesn't mean it should be.
Reality check people fail to see facts are when jobs are exported price for those products dont go down with cheap labor the manufactor stil charges same price if was made in usa ,profiting from people lost of jobs so dont buy imports.
It is undoubtedly good news and disagreement over who to credit is premature. We are still 4 percent off full employment and it is the harder road. These numbers confirm the revitalization of the urban areas of the country but the areas of our country that have been decimated by trade and off shoring jobs are still stranded in a world of hurt. These areas need business investment to provide jobs and raise their standard of living ... I hope it isn't too far off.
4
Good news? when someone who was making $10 per hour now makes a penny more while the big bosses get millions more each year?
4
I think it is much better than 300k jobs lost. Demand and competition for workers will increase wages while government regulated wages cause companies to adjust in ways that reduce employment to stabilize margins. Pay is based on a jobs value and raises are based on the quality of the workers preforming the service.
I also don't feel a person scooping ice cream or flipping burgers should be paid $15 an hour. It does nothing but raise costs to be passed on to the consumer where then they need $20 an hour. There is a void of mid level jobs between low skill and high skill absent from the economy that has retarded upward mobility and better a standard of living. It's about jobs, jobs, jobs ... not political talking points.
1
The people reporting here that the Democrats will not let Trump take any credit for this jobs report are incorrect -- at least as far as I am concerned. It is standard politics that any sitting president gets to take credit for a good economy. Good for him, and good for us that the economic is strong.
I do wish that these same Republican had been as concerned about honesty and integrity in economic reporting when Obama was president. You will notice that this is the best jobs report since 2015. Hmm, who was president in 2015? When the numbers were strong for Obama (which they often were), Republicans insisted that the numbers were "fake". Now, when a Republican is president and numbers similar to Obama's are posted, Republicans suddenly believe the numbers! The stock market grew and the jobs increased at the same rate under Obama as they do now. The growth was more or less the same.
I did very well under Obama and I will do very well under Trump. So I am happy about strong numbers regardless of who is president.
I just find it amusing that so many people are either so duped or so disingenuous that they can't recognize that the economic growth curve of the country has not changed since basically 2014 or even earlier. All that has changed is that conservative media outlets and their followers are not claiming that the numbers are "fake".
Good news, y'all! You woke up and realized four years late that the economy is actually pretty strong!
23
The failure of wage growth with employment growth seems inconsistent with a full employment economy. Are these really living wage jobs or, as is often the case, second jobs that also pay poorly? That unemployment hardly budged could indicate a second job. Until wages really rise I'll remain skeptical that the economy is working for workers rather than Wall Street.
23
Wage growth up 2.6%. The unemployment numbers aren't moving because people are re-entering the labor force.
4
@Greg It's been hovering around 2 percent since 2010! Sounds like stagnation to me.
2
With all these jobs and labor shortages, I guess this means that the DACA people and immigrants are not draining our economy or taking away jobs. Also, these immigrants were not deterred by the costs of housing or moving to leave their own country to find work.
17
Wages won't go up until the last member of the reserve army of the unemployed is lured back into the workforce. And that assumes that automation doesn't replace workers.
25
Except they are going up 2.6%. It's in the report.
3
Anyone else just a tad skeptical about the accuracy and objectivity of statistics offered up by the Trump administration? I have a colleague at Labor who has lamented to me the thorough politicization of the department under Trump - with many career civil servants resigning or being forced out, to be replaced by "loyalists." This also has been the pattern in other federal agencies.
Job numbers have traditionally been both highly politically sensitive and notoriously "flexible." Very minor tweaks to the methodology and algorithms yield strikingly different bottom-line numbers. If the influence of a president whose entire career has relied on serial "puffery" has permeated into the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we can expect a string of what he would call "big, beautiful" job numbers (along with other measures of the health of the economy) to greet us -- which, likely as not, have about as much relation to realty as his "5 million illegal voters" or "largest inaugural crowd ever."
So be wary and check the official Trump figures against other independent measures.
37
Thank you President Obama for saving us from the 2008 GOP catastrophe and putting us on the right, solid track. I believe though that it is only a matter of time before this GOP Administration and Government destroys the economy again.
131
Laughable assessment.
4
So sad that you just can't accept the fact that this country is doing better than it was the past 8 years.
3
Obama didn't pass any economic legislation. The thanks go to GWB for passing TARP.
2
Where are the jobs that are actually suited to the many college graduates this country is turning out at a massive rate and at great expense? Thousands of people are trained for other occupations, so the competition for jobs that pay a living wage, yet allow folks to go home to their families at the end of the day and have some work-life balance is still fierce. Why are there so few tenure-track jobs, and thousands of underpaid adjuncts? Why have we cut back funding for our schools, our theaters, our orchestras and dance companies - meaning, our creative class - as well as our social services, our research scientists, and our national parks? All of these professions could employ thousands more workers who are actually trained for these jobs. Instead, we demand that fifty-year-olds with college degrees go work in construction or trucking? Please. We need to start supporting the professions that people want to work in, not force people to do work that they are neither temperamentally, intellectually, nor physically suited for.
28
I mean this in a respectful way, but I do believe training people at great expense for jobs that don't exist in the liberal arts field is a large issue. This drives up the cost of college and in turn a large amount of student debt that has no hope of ever being paid off.
Blue collar industries including manufacturing, truckers (yes), and trades such as welding, plumbing, and electrical produce tangible outputs. When these industries are healthy, the country has a strong middle class and is healthy.
9
So, we should just dump on our creatives, our scientists, our academics, and so on? Everyone should just go work on a construction site? What is this, the Cultural Revolution? Forcing people who have brains and ability into mind-numbing, soul-killing work so that oligarchs can benefit from cheap labor is not the answer. We need a serious restructuring of society, so that economic growth is less paramount, and the cultivation of our civilization and humanity takes on more importance.
3
Well, scientists and creatives are not in the same category in my opinion....although please don't take from comments that I don't support the arts - it is quite important to us and I am a Berklee grad myself.
There is nothing demeaning whatsoever about being a welder, electrician, plumber, etc. If one is going to go into large amounts of debt (or ask someone else to do on their behalf), it should be for a profession that helps expand the economy.
Comparisons to the Cultural Revolution are quite overblown. You are free to pursue these 'Creative' careers. Just pay for it yourself.
I am not buying it. 313,000 jobs added. Are these just new jobs without the subtraction of lost jobs? Or are these additional jobs?
And the most important question: What are these jobs paying?
We don't need low wage, government subsidized "new" jobs.
31
From the article: "contained good news, with impressive employment gains in low-, middle- and high-wage industries". Seems like across the board gains.
We'd all like to see higher paying jobs and wage growth but until we invest in blue collar/manufacturing/trades job growth vs. liberal arts college degrees with no job prospects, that simply isn't going to happen.
3
Here in Colorado there are help wanted signs at every turn for retail, construction, service, landscaping and so on. There are also a lot of high paying jobs in the state. Housing is expensive so there are 'shortages' of labor at the lower end of the pay scale. The economic boom here in Colorado is causing issues, housing issues, increased traffic, and general congestion. However, when I visit family in the midwest it is an entirely different story.
As the article states, there are pockets of hardened poverty--is Memphis such a place?
I think the article is accurate.
11
And are they part-time or full-time jobs with benefits--retirement, medical insurance, paid vacation?
1
"Rather than moving to higher-income areas to take advantage of the increased employment opportunities, people remain stranded in areas that are economic dead ends."
Geographical mobility has always been a hallmark of the US labor market. People seek jobs where they can find them. This has somehow stopped working. Blaming it on housing or medical costs alone just doesn't cut it. There is an increasing inertia among this underclass who has stopped trying to thrive; instead, resorting to substance abuse like opioid. If people stop trying, I rather doubt more government intervention or sustenance will help.
One other thing I'd be very interested to see, is this: If US economy and labor market continues to thrive, even amidst all the gloom-and-doom talk from economists on how protectionism would hurt US economy, what does that say about the decades-old economic theories and social experiments since WWII? Yes, US is no longer in the social club of TPP, but if TPP doesn't amount to much economically except news-flash announcement ("We Will Overcome") from those 12 countries, that says volume about who's dependent on whom, and it'll fly in the face of those who argue for more collegiate approach in opening their domestic markets in order to buy influence. Afterall China doesn't really run by that playbook and China is doing just fine (as long as its own domestic market is large enough to become self-sustaining).
9
Given many Americans still live paycheck to paycheck or are unemployed, and it is likely those in both groups have little (if any) savings, the inability to move to "where the jobs are" is limited for many people. The expense of transportation long distances to find work (not everyone drives), securing a new residence (thousands of dollars up front) and moving certainly is a barrier for many people.
I have been a long-term unemployed newspaper editor. There are plenty of smaller newspapers who seek editors (at the pay I was receiving in NYC area) and I would love to move. Instead, I'm stuck here and having to seek retail jobs (many applications receive no responses) because much of my area is retail-oriented.
At age 55, I believe I have not "stopped trying to thrive." Mobility is the problem.
3
@JJ, I feel your pain, yet the same question persists: Do you have to have all the ducks lined up, before you move? Where has the animal spirit gone? If you are expecting the same cushion condition or job security as your previous job in NYC might offer in some smaller cities, then the first order of business is to realign your expectations with reality.
Yes, I know how that's like to be starting over again in middle age. Yet, would the unknowns be better than your current "stuck" situation? This is EXACTLY the type of conditions in which government would not be able to help you much with. There has never been, nor will there be, guarantee from government or anyone else to ensure you have great, cheap housing, salary that allows you to live a great life (or commensurate to your seniority. It has never been, not in the news print media, nor any other industry.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but such as it is. To each, his own. I do wish you all the best in the job search. Don't stop trying, you might get what you want one day.
3
It means Trump hysteria is just that. Next stop, a denuclearized North Korea.
13
The Obama recovery continues. When will the Trump GOP’s sabotage shipwreck it?
121
Utterly ridiculous. Obama did nothing to turn the economy around, and now he gets credit after being out of office for 14 months? Why not credit FDR instead?
6
Because he DID and this is a trend that's been continuing since 2014?
2
As we speak there is no one at the helm, Trump is gloating in the mirror over the success of his sabre rattling with NK, and the GOP is partying below deck over bamboozling the public and getting away with it, all while we hear some economists at watch yelling, ICEBERGS ahead.
2
1) The Phillips curve plots inflation on the y-axis versus the unemployment rate on the x-axis, can be thought of as a type of demand curve for US workers. On this demand curve, price equals the CPI and quantity equals the unemployment (UE) rate. Various sectors of this demand curve have different elasticities. To the left, near the origin, with low unemployment rates and labor shortages, the demand for labor tends to be more inelastic, as can be shown by steeply rising inflation as wages are pushed upward at these low UE rates.
2) As the UE rate increases, the increased economic slack means entry to a more elastic section of the demand curve where excess unemployed workers are ready substitutes for the employed. Thus, declines in the UE rate in this sector of the Phillips curve, due to greater elasticity via substitutes, do not as readily signal upward price movements in the overall economy.
3) To briefly recap: the UE spectrum can be illustrated via the Phillips curve, with the following endpoints:
[1 Very low unemployment rates; very high CPI; very inelastic demand for workers]
[2 Very high unemployment rates; very low CPI; very elastic demand for workers]
[1]-----------Phillips Curve-----------[2]
4) With a current 4.1% UE rate, the Fed fears the economy is exiting a very elastic section of the UE spectrum and approaching a very vulnerable and inelastic section of the UE spectrum, where the CPI increases apace in a vertical direction.
[F 3/9 10:02a Greenville NC]
1
I wish that in my country could show the reality about working. Because goverment says that all of us have great jobs but is a total lie.Anyways we are people that love working. Greetings from Mexico
9
Trump continues his roll! Now let's get those wages up.
9
That would be Obama's roll . Thank you very much.
2
I remember the days when this POTUS used to accuse the last POTUS of cooking the books.
46
Good luck running against this, Nancy Pelosi et al.
14
Look at the chart.
January is always weak and February picks up the slack as the weather warms.
But this news underscores the low unemployment nationwide and that the Republican rally cry of jobs, jobs, jobs is foolishness.
10
There has been consistent job additions since mid 2010.....This growth was started in the Obama admin, not the current one....
President Obama handed Trump a 28-0 lead in the 4th quarter, all he has to do is run out the clock and not commit 5 turnovers....
51
Why let the facts get in the way of your argument?
3
Because they're not IN the way.
3
Basically from a continuation of Obama's policies.
The end is near as evidenced by the wide swings in the market.
The only question is how much and when.
Demagogues always ruin their country from the first one Alcibedes in Ancient Greece to one of the latest Chavez in Mexico.
61
A continuation of what?
2
Thank your for you reply Kevin...a continuation of Obama's boring eight yrs. of slow eco growth without a recession getting us out of the greatest recession in history by letting Wall Street, corporations run wild like Trump is doing....
Learn from history or be condemned to repeat its worst examples.
1
Hugo Chavez was from Venezuela.
1
I try to remain neutral about our presidents. But lets just take this at face value. I'm tired of hearing this flip flop. It's Obamas credit for the rising DOW numbers when trump became president, its Trumps fault when they fell, then its Obamas credit when they rose again. You can't have it both ways.
Why don't we all just swallow our pride and agree that AMERICAN jobs are up, AMERICAN stocks are steady, and the UNITED states government is collectively has improved our nation.
11
The current stock market is erratic. We have gigantic wealth disparity; health costs are going to soar next year, due to dissolution of the individual mandate; deregulation of the financial markets means more bad mortgages coming on board again. This is Trump-time, and it is uncertain and reckless.
10
Erratic? How much has the market risen since Trump took office?
Yes if you micro manage it sure its erratic, but look at it from a 5 year span. No need to dive in a sample size that small. Gigantic wealth disparity hasnt changed isnt going to change unless we want to live in a socialist society (see Venezuela for results). I'd say we're doing alright if you ask me. But then again I'd be miserable and negative all the time if I lived in CA too.
1
Once again, did not see anything in this report about the rise of contract workers.
22
This shows that, as of last month, Trump and the Republicans hadn't wrecked the Obama economy. It won't be as good after their stupid tariffs take effect. (I write "their" because Congressional Republicans have been utterly spineless and compliant with every bit of Trump's criminal nonsense.)
13
This is a great jobs report but will it last? Trump just signed tariffs which, at best, will make US products more expensive to produce and at worst could result in a trade war and huge job losses.
7
Thanks President Obama!
61
Thankful that he was limited to two terms!
4
Thanks President Obama is no longer holding back this economy!
2
Yeah, he sure didn't anything done other than ending combat operations in two wars, saving the auto industry, saving the economy and providing healthcare to millions of Americans who had nothing before Obamacare. And he did all that while remaining a decent human being, unlike Trump and his criminal family. And porn stars.
The economy is awash in borrowed money. I suppose, grab it while you can.
12
Who gathers & reports these statistics? If it is the Trump administration, and it looks like it is, I flat out don't believe them.
17
He hasn't managed to drive out all of the dedicated professionals. Not yet.
2
The thing that the stock market likes most about this job's report today is not the jobs added but the continued wage suppression. Gotta keep those pesky personnel costs down!!
21
89 months = 7.5 years. Trump has been in office 12 of the 89 months. That means 77 months are due to Obama and his policies. Numbers don't lie.
63
President Trump assumed office on January 20, 2017. This is March 8, 2018. The President has been in office for fourteen month, short about a week and one half.
Far more important, though, Americans have known since November 9, 2016 that policy at the top was going to take a turn for the better. Since that day hope has returned and continued to build. Our time in the desert and the endless days of malaise are finally in the rear view mirror.
1
Unsustainable economic growth.
2
The quandary for investors can be described as someone who has seen the first and last page of a book, but does not know either how long the book is or what happened between the first and last pages. We know that a massive transfer to the rich will happen. We know that the middle class has a much higher marginal propensity to consume than the rich. We know that initially the rich, or if you rather the job creators, use their additional after-tax income to invest. This extra investment initially boosts securities prices. The higher prices for securities enable investments to occur that might have otherwise been undertaken. These can range from factories, shopping centers and housing. What we don't know is the path that equity prices and interest rates will take between the enactment of the tax shift and the eventual financial crisis or other event occurs, at which time the massive excess supply of loanable funds as compared to demand for loans will push risk-free short-term interest rates down to near the lower bound, as was the case during the 1930s, in Japan for decades and in America since 2008..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4148256
4
I am pleased black and Hispanic unemployment has descended once again to record lows. Everyone should be benefitting from this new American economic vitality, not just whites. All Americans deserve a chance at a job, and that would appear now finally to be happening. This is a good thing.
12
No surprise. Restrict the harmful impact of government on the economy and let individuals and businesses allocate resources to their own highest use. The economy will then flourish.
Eg - HK vs. southern China. US vs. Europe. Singapore v. Indonesia. Obama v. Trump. There are endless illustrations of this universal truth.
7
Too bad those gains aren't helping me. Did I get a raise...yes! Does it cover my yearly rent increase over the past five years? Not even close!!
63
Is anyone forcing you to work for your current employer?
If you think you're so valuable, vote with your feet and find a better job.
4
Were not four of those five years under Obama's "new normal"?
3
Strange how the right never tells coal miners to vote with their feet and find a new job.
4
When NEW job's are added, what does that really mean? Is that a job that did not exist, or does that included backfilling due to a retirement or other reason for a current job? Apprx. 300,000 people a month turn 65. How many leave the work force and open a position. Help clarify.
62
It's back filling, it sort of like a company saying, we're going to open a plant, but fail to mention that opening a manufacturing line has been on the table for months. This is companies using some of their tax windfall doing what they are supposed to use some of their profits for.
It's net change in jobs, i.e. the change in total employment from the previous month. So if for a month, everyone stayed employed except for the 300,000 retiring people, this metric would be -300,000.
Technically the number they appear to be using is net change in jobs for non-farm employment, seasonally adjusted. The seasonal adjustment accounts for cyclic job patterns (it smooths it out). The linked graph shows both of them.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=iVsC
job participation rate went up up by .3% over January.
Undeniably good news. A strong economy where more people are finding work coupled with wage growth that is not strongly inflationary is good for the overall country. It was good to see manufacturing and other blue-collar job gains.
We still need work to increase the quality of jobs available - and also ensure more people qualify for higher-skilled jobs.
31
There are plenty of highly skilled people who still can’t find jobs. You’ll recognize them by the gray in their hair.
HUGE tax cuts have made it possible for publicly traded corporations to repurchase stock and pay larger dividends. Shareholders are making commensurate gains. Naturally, jobs will be created and pay will increase for some but our growing national debt will be passed to our children. Borrowing HUGE amounts of money to pay for shareholder gains amounts to wealth transference. The end game will be an eventual assault on entitlement programs.
63
The graphs of Unemployment and Wage Growth clearly show that this is a continuation of the steady long-term reduction in unemployment since late 2009 as well as the paltry growth in wages over the same period. There is no indication that the tax cuts have accelerated this downward trend in unemployment nor that they have resulted in significant wage growth. If anything, the long-term data confirm that there was no rational economic need for a huge tax cut for corporations and the wealthiest while the middle class was thrown a consolation prize. The debt exploding tax cut was purely for political gain. It enriched the wealthy Republican donors and fooled the hapless Republican working class into thinking it was about helping them.
64
"wealthy Republican donors". I bet would be hard for you to not link those words together. Kinda rubber stamped from your keyboard. Okay, there are indeed such creatures, but didn't the tax cuts also benefit wealthy Democrats. If I remember correctly, Wall Street donations went heavily to Democrat presidential candidates.
It's a little annoying to see the stereotypes rolled out too easily without critical analysis
2
Yes Michael, Chuck Schumer takes millions from hedge fund managers and then keeps saying we can't do anything for workers in the current political climate, but we do need corporate tax cuts, and we need to compromise with Republicans to add $165 billion in military spending.
Just because centrist Democrats are also corrupt doesn't mean that Republican policies are good.
"Corporate executives have long complained about the difficulty of finding workers"
What they mean is, they can't find workers to work at the wages the companies have established as the norm for their business type.
News flash: companies are not in competition with each other to add workers. They are in competition with each other to show "low overhead" business models, and to buy back stock and enrich their stock holders.
224
Exactly. This is confirmed by the anemic wage growth. If they offered better wages, I bet more people would apply.
10
Yes, there are many new jobs now providing services to oligarchs (lawn care; house cleaning; chefs; nannies; personal shoppers; jewelers; cosmetic surgeons etc. etc.)
In the meantime, healthcare costs skyrocket; 1950s infrastructure crumbles around us; and my kids college debt is more than I paid for my first house.
314
Where are you living and who is in your circle of acquaintances? You describe the Kardashians and the entertainment elites. Annoying as they are, they are a tiny blip on the job provider scale.
Are you saying that they should fire their low income nannies and let the lawn guy go? Bet they would be real happy to know your solution to job creation
3
"Low income nannies and the lawn guy", also known as immigrant labor.
3
Definitely good news for the overall economy. No one president is responsible for economic success or failure. Indeed, the Federal Reserve has much more to do with it than the president. Wages continue to increase quite slowly, which likely is tied to our quite low labor participation rate. As this report indicates, more than 800,000 people rejoined the labor force. There is a lot of slack in the labor market due to people who have been sitting on the sidelines (and aren't counted in the unemployment rate). Labor participation has been distressingly low for a number of years. We won't be at "full employment" until that rights itself.
7
Your analysis is comical. What reason do you have to believe the manner in which the government calculates these statistics is anything less that farcical, which it is. Wages are low because we live in a society that, 24/7/365, places the value of money and material things above the value of human beings. Everything else is commentary. Pfft.
4
I wish Janet Yellen stays on. History will prove that she will go down as one of the best Fed chair that proves steady hand to the Fed and the economy, and has the courage to slowly and methodically wean the economy from the easy money policy.
4
I'd be interested in seeing your calculations.
Those who can't often critcize those who can.
1
That's good news, provided the tariffs don't ultimately cause middle class job losses and higher costs for consumer goods.
Oh well, on to Kim Jone Un and other diversions...
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Unfortunately, $8.50 an hour is still not a livable wage. Twice that should be the law.
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Yes, and somebody has to pay for that double-the-minimum-wage costs. Are you willing to accept double the inflation rate?
I feel for the teachers in the recent WV strike. Yes, they got what they want (5% rise). When all is settled, the state will have to find $20m to fill that budget hole. More social spending and service are going to be cut because of that. Will you be cheering for that too?
5
Let me know when you're hiring at $17, SL, since evidently owning a business is a license to print money.
Republicans don't want laws on the minimum wage like they don't want laws on gun control. Laws would hurt their corporate donors.
3
Those 18 states that still haven't expanded Medicaid and the states facing premature mortality overlap considerably. It's terribly unethical what those Republican legislatures or governors are doing to hurt their populations. Estimates are that 4 million people could be covered; avoidable mortality is about 1/800, so that's about 5,000 people per year.
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And this has WHAT to do with the latest jobs report?
2
Wait. Aren't the states refusing Medicaid expansion dominated by the party of life?
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If Trump is going to get credit for 'creating jobs' at the end of a many years long decline in unemployment during the Obama years, Obama should get a lot of credit for reversing the high unemployment after the Republican created Great Recession of 2008.
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Agreed Gina, let's wait eight yrs and see what happens, assuming Trump is re elected and not in prison.
3
Actually bud you are partially correct, the dems went along with the policy of the collapse and sometimes helped it but the republicans under the admitted war criminal Bush 2 accelerated it and drove the car (the economy) off the cliff.
We are repeating the small mistake now although now it is almost entirely the republicans who control the three branches of gov't with the biggest rifling of the treasury in history, trillions of dollars going to billionaires and corporations with the average working stiff left to pay the massive deficits it will create.
Learn from history or forever be condemned to repeat its' worst mistakes.
8
Typo should be same not small mistake.
Posturing. Mentions Trucking, Construction, and Retail. No other sector. Where are the details? If I'm a college student, struggling with loan debt, is this what I want I want to look forward to? Magnificent numbers supported by meager detail. Reminiscent of Trump's Inaugural Audience Numbers. Give us the arial view. Not believable.........
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Correct. The work is not steady or professional. Lots of these are entry level or seasonal jobs, rebounds from terrible weather situations and the like. You know the best part? More and more seniors returning to the work place to cover their cost of living. Thye employers love this: desperate competition among workers for a job holds pay down. Right to work = right to dismiss.
Call me when wages surge up.
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College graduates traditionally have much lower levels of unemployment than blue-collar workers. Right now, with overall unemployment at 4.1%, the rate for those with a bachelor's degree or higher is 2.7%
4
Devil is always in the details. Here's a chart with the data. Not all bad, but when we throw around big numbers, the data behind it matters.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm
There is no question that the tax cut is partially responsible for such strong job growth. There was never any question that it would help in the short term. In the long run, however, it remains to be seen how such a policy impacts the national deficit. Still, this is great news for our country as a whole. Let’s keep the good times rolling!
22
Please explain how the tax cut created more jobs. Give details. Did the tax cuts increase wages (as opposed to bonuses, which are not a part of your wage)? It is quite clear from the data that wages have NOT increased.
So if there are more jobs, chances are they are part-time, seasonal, undependable work that comes without benefits.
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You hit the nail on the head, Elizabeth. My rent increases over the past five years more than wipe out any raises I've gotten. I'm struggling just to pay rent more now than five years ago.
28
So did the increase all come in the one year under Trump?
2
Hmmm.....maybe the average guy is going to start thinking that Trump's economic policies are not so dumb after all.
However, I'm sure others will argue that this is all due to the wonderful job the Obama administration did, and Trump is just reaping the benefits.
29
Correct.
7
If only because of short-sightedness coupled with sorter memories. Trump's policies are GOP stock. We tried this under Reagan and Bush. And both times, trickle-down failed. The gulf between the classes widens, but the people are distracted by small immediate benefits. Frogs in boiling water
6
Such good news for America. Jobs and rising pay, and hints of more to come. Now, if the Fed doesn't do anything to upset things, and Congress doesn't meddle too much, this pattern could go on for a very long time.
36
...unless the tariffs scuttle this, which the reason Trump All Bluster will weasel out of them.
3
No, it can't go on for a very long time. Systems tend toward cycles. This economy will be no different. As it stands, we are approaching the tail end of growth, with a decline set to come. The tax cuts, from the Reagan playbook, will lubricate the economy for a short time. Yet, given the extreme deficit increase, the economy will crash, with none of the economic benefits of growth having being spread to the lower and middle income levels. We are simply increasing inequality.
8
Disagree. The Fed has created this much growth only by printing money and stoking the biggest asset bubble of all time. So it will crash. Wall street will be bailed out and mainstreet will take a huge hit again.
Ok getting ready for democrats to insist this is due to Obama policies and Republicans to claim this is due to Trump admin and neither being capable of simply being happy for good economic news and the fact many now have jobs. What a sad state this divided country finds itself in.
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I want to be happy, but our already-laughable wages actually decreased. The Wall Street casino is happy because it otherwise would be "inflation", which would keep the CEOs from getting their third yachts. We're unhappy because our wages won't keep up with it.
All to say nothing of worker rights that get pummeled by Ricketts spite-closures, corporate arbitration or-elses, no-poach cartels, and whatever the "covfefe" GOP say and do. Americans have to be ever more lucky to get the check they worked for, and to reap any benefits of a so-called "competitive" so-called "free" so-called "job" so-called "market".
31
And they should be skeptical of immediate credit claims because that's how economies work, they don't track in real time they are the result of implementations that are years in the making. Seriously, this is econ 101.
15
When my wages go up to meet even 50% of my increased health insurance costs (all increases since Trump elected, thank you), then I will see this as "good economic news" rather than just more people out there competing for jobs that don't pay well, at all.
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