President Trump Gets Huge Boost from Stellar October Jobs Report

Have you seen the October jobs report? Before we dive into it, you’d better grab an oven mitt. This baby is hot! Here is the rundown: Economists predicted the U.S. would create 190,000 jobs in October. Instead, the economy demolished estimates by creating 250,000 jobs. Worker pay rose by 3.1 percent on an annualized basis — this outpaced inflation and shows that American families are receiving real pay increases. The labor force participation rate ticked up 0.2 percent, signaling more Americans are re-entering the labor force as the Trump economy heats up. The October jobs report was so good that

One of These Media Headlines Is Not Like the Others

Numbers are just numbers, right? If you don’t think that the media can spin anything to fit a narrative, just take a look at these three headlines on yesterday’s job report numbers: While CNN focused on the positives — they must have not gotten the memo — Politico and The Washington Post both found a way to disparage the report, despite the relatively good news it conveyed. Just compare this coverage to the way both outlets presented a very similar October 2016 jobs report — the final report to come out pre-election: Politico: “Last pre-election jobs report: 161,000 jobs created

More Bad News in June Jobs Report

In recent months, analysts have been pointing to a supposedly improved job situation for workers. Voluntary minimum wage increases at companies like Walmart allegedly pointed to an upward movement in wages due to increased competition. Workers purportedly were feeling more secure in their jobs and more willing to explore new possibilities. Despite a first quarter slide in economic growth, the economy was apparently poised to bounce back. The proverbial ‘rosy scenario’ was finally appearing on the horizon. Much of this optimism, however, was surprising news to the middle class, and today’s jobs report showed why. The headline — 220,000 new jobs and the

There Is Less to the Employment Numbers Than Meets the Eye

Today’s headlines trumpet the gain of 280,000 jobs in May and the additional 32,000 jobs in the previous two months.  This good news, however, masks the disappointing numbers that come hand in hand. Even with today’s increases, the average monthly job creation in 2015 is only 217,000, which is far lower than the nearly 260,000 last year. That said, job creation remains sluggish at best. Additionally, the labor force participation rate of 62.9 percent remains at the average it was last year. In fact, it is still over 3 percent lower than it was at the beginning of the financial

Another Jobs Report, Another Disappointment

The headlines today don’t tell the whole story. While 223,000 new jobs in April sound like a positive development for our economy, the cold, harsh reality is that millions of Americans are still struggling to find work—and those who are lucky enough to be working are facing stagnant wages amidst rising prices. It is disingenuous to say that the unemployment rate is truly 5.4 percent. That number fails to account for those who have given up looking for work—a cohort that is now higher than it has ever been before. When you add those people to the equation, the unemployment

More Americans Not Working

While most of the media is praising the February jobs report, highlighting 295,000 jobs added and a dip in the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent, it is clear that the true numbers do not demonstrate an economic recovery. From CNS News: The labor force participation rate declined to 62.8 percent in February, while another 92,898,000 Americans were not in the labor force, according to data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. The participation rate, which is the percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population who participated in the labor force by either having a job during the month or