With so much bad news out there, I am happy to report some from the good side of things.
Excerpted rom Jeff Cox’s article at cnbc.com:
The U.S. economy added jobs at a brisk pace in August, reversing a summer slowdown in hiring, while the unemployment rate held steady.
Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 162,000 for the month while the unemployment rate, as expected, held steady at 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a payrolls increase of 53,000.
Policymakers generally watch the unemployment rate more closely for the health of the labor market, and that has held consistent for the past several years and is actually down 0.2 percentage point from a year ago. There was good news on that front as well, as the jobless level held steady even with a 0.2 percentage point increase in the labor force participation rate, a measure of those either employed or looking for jobs.
In addition to the solid August gain, prior months saw upward revisions: July showed a gain of 21,000 jobs, swinging positive from a loss of 23,000, while June was revised up to a gain of 31,000, or an increase of 11,000.
Job growth is substantially higher than expected, while unemployment holds steady…and the previous month’s data are revised upward as well.
That’s good news. News that CNBC, as a financial entity, is obligated to report.
Now let’s see how prominently it is featured in more generalized mainstream media.
I suggest you don’t expect much.
