'Strong Job Creation, Disappointing Earnings Growth': Economists React To June Jobs Report On Twitter
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 213,000 new jobs in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 93rd straight month of employment gains.
The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4%.
Employment in construction continued to trend up in June, with employers adding 13,000 jobs. The construction industry has added 282,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Retail jobs declined by 22,000, offsetting job growth reported in May.
Here is how some economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
Above expectation gain in jobs – up 213k m/m w/upward revisions of 37k in prior months – a solid report
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) July 6, 2018
If you're at the Fed this is a perfect sweet spot report. Modest wage growth and growing labor force implies this economy isn't overheating.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) July 6, 2018
The underlying pace of jobs growth:
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) July 6, 2018
- Over the past three months, jobs growth has averaged +211k
- Household survey shows +102k employment growth; establishment says +213k. My preferred 20/80 average = 189k
Both are darn healthy for this stage of the cycle.
Meanwhile, the economy added 213K jobs in June and an average of 211K jobs per month over the last 3 months. For reference, the economy roughly needs to add 80-120K jobs each month to tread water with population growth. So we're still solidly above trend.
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) July 6, 2018
Nominal wage growth (blue line) over the year for frontline workers rose to 3.0% this month, good news.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) July 6, 2018
However, rising price inflation (red) is wiping out most of their gains too.
Real wage growth for frontline workers (blue - red) collapsed from 3.0% in Jan'15 to 0.3% now. pic.twitter.com/rThl89ZMjx
But wow wage growth remains pretty stubbornly meh given the tight labor market, 2.7% YOY.
— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) July 6, 2018
Nominal wages grew 2.7%, consistent with growth for much of this year. This continued slow wage growth is an obvious sign that the economy is not at full employment. https://t.co/JMfj9t0P8Z pic.twitter.com/qIjn9QRIdT
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) July 6, 2018
Trade tensions might hit U.S. manufacturing eventually, but they haven't yet -- manufacturers added jobs at their fastest pace of the year in June. pic.twitter.com/uQNwCrIHCL
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) July 6, 2018
The retail rebound was always a bit hard to understand. Looks like it may have been a fluke -- big job losses last month, and April revised down to a slight loss. pic.twitter.com/EfKcWwh42N
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) July 6, 2018
Strong Job Creation, but Disappointing Earnings Growth https://t.co/OEytqmhl1L #cad #eur #gbp #usd #jobs #trade
— Marc Chandler (@marcmakingsense) July 6, 2018
