Job growth came to a near halt in February after a blistering start to the year, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by just 20,000 even as the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent.
It was the worst month for job creation since September 2017, offset somewhat by a solid increase in wages.
The month fell short of the relatively modest expectations of 180,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate had been projected at 3.9 percent from January's 4 percent.
I find a couple of things interesting about this. The goal (since the beginning of time) was 150K jobs a month. It was always believed that this is what our economy required to keep up with population growth.
However, with the retirement of the baby boomers, our workforce is no longer really growing at the same pace. The argument (during the Obama administration) was that 150K was probably no longer necessary. We could still have a strong job market gaining 50K, 75K or 100K a month.
So I find it amusing that a projection of 180K would suddenly be considered "modest". Perhaps modest in comparison to recent job growth under Trump?
Either way, the unemployment figure remains under 4% which is where most economists suggest we are approaching full employment. I am sure everyone wishes we had bigger growth, but at the end of the day this appears to be little more than a speed bump, and everything else (wages, unemployment, etc) remains solid.
4 comments:
first of all i'd like to meet some of these economists who were looking for 180,000 new jobs. i'm sure it's safe to assume that one of them is krugman who's a fucking moron in his own right, but who are the rest of these geniuses who couldn't clearly see full employment approaching.
bonus question -
who am i to blame for this?
trump or the JOOS?
I hope that it is just little more than a speed bump. The GM plant closage is not good news.
speed bump:
US housing starts jump more than expected in January
KEY POINTS:
Housing starts jumped 18.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.230 million units in January, the Commerce Department said on Friday.
The housing market hit a soft patch last year amid higher mortgage rates, expensive lumber as well as land and labor shortages, which led to tight inventories and less affordable homes.
Building permits rose 1.4 percent to a rate of 1.345 million units in January, driven by an increase in permits for the volatile multi-family housing segment.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/housing-starts-january-2019.html
and if your ass is chapped over the GM plant closing, thank the green wet dream and the Google goolag:
The company is closing several plants as part of a restructuring to focus on electric and driverless cars.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-03-06/general-motors-closing-ohio-plant
and guess who's NOT closing?
non-UAW plants in the south that build cars and trucks that Americans actually want to buy. honda, BMW, toyota, VW...
that's the thing about one of life's harsh realities - you don't get to have it both ways. if you're going to demand golf carts that run on AI, you're gonna get golf carts that run on AI.
oh, and when the whole driverless thing is finally REALLY ready for prime time, guess who are the next folks to see their jobs become obsolete...
truck drivers.
but that's ok because they're mostly trump-loving deplorable rednecks.
The GM plant closage is not good news."
Ungrateful slugs.
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