The bad news: Instead of creating 158,000 jobs in May, the US economy only added 38,000.
The other bad news: The jobs created for the previous two months were not as high as originally reported, down by 59,000.
The good news: Wages grew by five cents an hour, unemployment is down to 4.7% (while a bit of bad news was that job participation is also down at 62.6%).
The conclusion: If you have a job, great. If you’ve been looking, you might have to keep looking. For the economy, jobs continue to be created, but at a slowing rate which suggests, but doesn’t prove, a slowing economy.
(Click on the graph for the link.)
“May’s Job Report” – The Atlantic
Pretending Not To Panic 
Wages rose a whole $0.05 an hour — wow. That’s $104 per year if you’re paid for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. This raise will just keep up with food inflation (see http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/food-inflation/forecast) if you spend about $5500 a year on food, or roughly $100 per week. Not exactly time to break out the champagne, is it?
LikeLike
Pingback: Data That Matters June 2016 | Pretending Not To Panic
Pingback: June US Jobs Report | Pretending Not To Panic