WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers slowed their hiring in July, adding 157,000 jobs, a solid gain but below the healthy pace they maintained in the first half of this year.
The Labor Department says the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.9 percent from 4 percent. That’s near an 18-year low of 3.8 percent reached in May.
Employers added an average of 224,000 new workers in the first six months of this year, a faster pace than in 2017. The pickup has impressed many economists because it’s happening late in the economic expansion, which has entered its 10th year and is now the second-longest in U.S. history.
The economy grew in the April-June quarter at its fastest pace in four years. Business and consumers are optimistic, suggesting solid hiring is likely to continue.
Really? Because I’ve been unemployed for almost a year now. And while the part time job I have might count, it sure doesn’t pay enough. So I gotta ask, are these part time jobs that have been reported or full time? Because from what I can tell, the market is crap right now.
Business and consumers are optimistic, suggesting solid hiring is likely to continue.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average hourly earninigs have gone up 2.7% in the past year.
BLS also says prices have gone up by 2.9% in the past year.
Full employment, and workers still can’t get ahead. But Trump isn’t going to mention that part. The game is rigged, and he and his buddies like it that way.
Despite the official U3 number of 3.9%, there is still a LOT of slack in the labor market. This has been true for - what? at least 5 years? Whether it’s older workers such as myself who employers just don’t want to deal with, women who left the job market to have families and now probably can’t get back in or laid off retail workers, these numbers aren’t really telling the full story.
Look, your constant nap demands, and insistance the font size on all the computers be set to “72”, has basically rendered you a trouble hire. Go fishing, whittle, anything. It’s really best for everyone.