About that June jobs report: A surprising record in there

A couple of additions to the predictably comprehensive monthly jobs report by our colleague Ed Morrissey.

As he reported here, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said June jobs grew by an unexpectedly large 213,000. Market and workforce experts had been predicting just under 200,000. That’s all good.

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That put the number of employed Americans at 155,576,000, the tenth record month in the 17-month-old Trump presidency.

The 162,140,000 who participated in the labor force (that includes those seeking work) was 62.9 percent of the 257,642,000 population of civilian non-institutionalized people, up slightly from May’s 62.7 percent. Another good sign.

The number of Americans not in the labor force — that is, not working and not looking — stayed high at 95.5 million. That’s because more members of that Baby Boomer bulge are retiring. You know who you are! So does Social Security, which is having to tap its financial reserves this year.

The unemployment rate did edge back up to four percent as more people began looking.

Among the various cohorts of workers, the unemployment rates for both adult women and adult men was 3.7 percent. For Asians it was 3.2 percent and for blacks 6.5 percent. That ‘s up from a record low of 5.9 percent in May.

The jobless rate for teenagers — 12.6 percent — is always high in summers. Whites was 3.5 percent, little change over the month.

But wait! There’s more.

Remember candidate Trump suggesting Hispanics and blacks vote for him because Democrats had never delivered and they had nothing to lose?

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During the month of June, a record 27,077,000 Hispanics had jobs. That put their unemployment rate at just 4.6 percent, the lowest ever recorded.

You’ll likely hear more about this during the next 122 days leading up to the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

The average hourly earnings for all employees in private non-farm jobs rose by five cents to $26.98 last month. Over the course of 2018, average hourly earnings have increased by 72 cents, or 2.7 percent.

Now, this may sound like pretty good news. However, House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi calls it a “reckless” jobs policy and a “raw deal” for Americans. Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee, added this:

Trump and Republicans in Congress are trying to build a winner-take-all economy that enriches their wealthy friends and saddles working families with the bill. Democrats want to create good-paying jobs and build an economy that works for everyone.

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David Strom 7:10 PM | October 15, 2024
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