February US Jobs

The good news: 242,000 Americans found jobs in February. Congratulations doing that in a short month.

The bad news: wages are down 0.1%.

The mix: there are more jobs and more people working. Even the job participation rate finally increased. The majority of the new jobs, however, are happening in service industries, not in manufacturing. Manufacturing has been shrinking for decades, and so has the middle class. Jobs are less likely to be seen as lifetime careers and more as yet another temporary solution that will have to be solved again within a few years because of reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, and a much more dynamic business environment. There are more jobs, which is good, but stagnant wages and an uncertain future means people are more likely to breath a sigh of relief than to shout in celebration.

(Click on the photo for the link.)

“242,000 Americans Got A Job Last Month” – Brookings