Purveyor of Truth
Uh oh, overall good economic news, including the best increase in jobs for a single month in 15 years. What next, the Dow sprinting above 18,000? Can not help but thinking about whether the current administration gets any credit for the improved performance and if the Tea Boys and Girls are working on the next scandel yet.
After more than five years of elusive gains, ordinary Americans may finally be about to see the benefits of the recovery where it really counts: in their pocketbooks and wallets.
The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 321,000 jobs in November — a much stronger number than expected — but perhaps even more significant was the biggest gain in average hourly earnings since June 2013.
Hourly earnings rose by 0.4 percent in November, double what economists had been expecting. That gain in hourly pay was significantly above the measly 0.1 percent increase in October, let alone the unchanged number in September. At the same time, the number of hours worked ticked up by one-tenth, adding to pay envelopes.
“The pairing of strong hiring and wage gains is a really strong indicator of the health of the economy,” said Tara Sinclair, chief economist at Indeed.com, a leading job search website. “Now, we want to see people coming back into the work force and also finding the right jobs for them in terms of wages, skills, and hours.”
The pickup in wage growth is coming as gasoline prices are plunging, providing a double boon for consumers and retailers with the holiday shopping season underway.
For the year as a whole, the gain in jobs, with one month still to go, is shaping up as the best in 15 years.
In economics most things cut both ways, however, and Friday’s report was no exception.
The nascent labor market strength makes it more likely the Federal Reserve will start raising short-term interest rates sooner rather than later. Most economists expect the central bank to increase interest rates in mid-2015, after leaving them near zero since the depths of the financial crisis in late 2008. Some now argue that the Fed may move to raise its key interest rate lever as early as March next year, but most are still sticking with midyear.
As positive as the figures for November were, one month’s data probably isn’t enough to shift the Fed’s thinking, said Guy Berger, chief United States economist at RBS. “You’d have to see these kinds of number over the next three or four months, then March comes into play,” he said. “Our view now is that the first rate hike will come in June.”Full article with video BELOW THE FOLD.
Via: Memeorandum
I don't see how any of this is relevant. There is only one story we're allowed to discuss at a time and you'll incur the wrath of CNN if you try to steer any conversation away from their regularly scheduled and totally interminable repetition. What are you, a troublemaker?
ReplyDeleteBut no, this is America the self absorbed where any facts that don't fit the script of our chosen party will be attacked along with anyone who tells us about them. A decision violates things we just know because it fits our politics must be the result of systemic racism. Economic conditions that don't flatter the pundits who have been totally, completely and absolutely wrong must not be true, but sorry -- this week we're out in the street making millions of people's lives miserable and difficult, singing songs and carrying signs and if you need to get to the hospital or to work or pick up your kids from school or anything else, you're SOL. How can you think about anything else?
And if someone is burning down your house or robbing your business or just abducted your sister or beat the crap out of you and stole your wallet -- stop being selfish.