Sometimes I'm amazed with the response - or in this case, lack of response - by people and the media. These numbers are nearly historic.
“Goldilocks may be coming. The economy is not too hot nor too cold,” Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank, said Friday after the government reported the nation’s unemployment rate had edged down to 4.7 percent in August.
The Labor Department's figures were better than expected.
Roughly 128,000 jobs were created in August, 7,000 more than were created in July.\
Schools, hospitals, financial firms, computer-design shops and construction companies were among those posting employment gains last month. That helped to blunt job cuts in manufacturing, retailing, trucking and elsewhere.
These don't seem to be "burger-flipper" jobs, either. The news helped ease fears and bolster confidence.
Michael Moskow, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, in a recent speech, said trends in both the growth of the population and labor force participation point to slower monthly job gains that is still consistent with healthy economic activity.
“This provides some peace of mind,” said Oscar Gonzalez, economist at John Hancock Financial Services.
On Wall Street, the employment news lifted stocks. The Dow Jones industrials gained 83 points to close at 11,464.15.
And the economic impact is continuing to spread.
With hiring improving, the unemployment rate dropped down a notch from a five-month high of 4.8 percent in July. That decline put the current unemployment rate close to a five-year low of 4.6 percent reached in May and maintained in June.
The jobless rates for blacks in August dipped to 8.8 percent, the lowest since July 2001. The unemployment rate for Hispanics held steady at 5.3 percent.
Workers’ average hourly earnings edged up to $16.79 in August, a tiny 0.1 percent increase from July.
Over the 12 months ending August, though, wages grew by 3.9 percent. The last time this figure was higher was in June 2001.
So, political football games aside (elections are near) the numbers are still pointing in the right direction.
Next on the agenda is the Fed's next meeting on September 20th.
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