While challenges remain, the labor market hasn’t been this healthy, or tight, in years.
Washington DC has turned into a madhouse, with infighting among Congress having derailed efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. Already, the GOP’s proposed tax plan has come under fire from interest groups. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been beset by the Mueller investigation and allegations of collusion with Russia.
Job gains have been seen across the board. Restaurants added nearly 90,000 jobs. Business services added roughly 50,000 positions. Health care added additional 22,000 people.
However distracting and damaging this political turmoil is, the Trump Administration does have one bragging right: the unemployment rate hasn’t been as low as it is now since December of 2000. With the unemployment rate dropping to 4.1% in October, the labor market is the strongest it has been in ages.
Some 260,000 jobs were added in October. This marks the most jobs added in a single month under the Trump administration. While Trump can hang his hat on the record low unemployment rate, the Obama Administration saw several months in which more than 300,000 jobs were added. As such, the Trump Administration has some work to do if they want to claim the title of most jobs added in a single month.
However, many Americans are still feeling a pinch on their wallet. Wage growth came in at only 2.4% from a year before. Inflation also remains low, which is generally good for consumers. Low inflation has been flummoxing economists and could hint at underlying structural weaknesses.
The labor market has seen jobs added for 85 straight months. This accounts for the longest streak of gains ever. The second term of the Obama administration saw stable but sometimes slow job growth. In total, about 11.3 million jobs were added under the Obama Administration.
Manufacturing grew to the tune of 24,000 jobs, marking one of the best months for the sector in recent memory.
Many analysts were worried that September would see the labor market shrink due to jobs lost because of the hurricanes. Initial projections predicted that the labor market would contract. Instead, revised projections point to 18,000 jobs being added. This isn’t much but is encouraging given the situation.
Job gains have been seen across the board. Restaurants added nearly 90,000 jobs with many restaurants opening up after the hurricanes. Business services added roughly 50,000 positions, while health care entities brought on an additional 22,000 people. Manufacturing grew to the tune of 24,000 jobs, marking one of the best months for the sector in recent memory.
The economy is notoriously difficult to understand and work with. Generally, trends take years to develop and momentum one way or the other can be hard to slow down. As a result, it remains unclear if the strong job growth is due to Trump, Obama, or someone/something else.
