Employment

America’s labor situation has been one of the economy’s highlights since it began recovering after the Great Recession.  Last year (2019) ended the decade by adding 2.11 million net new jobs, including December’s uptick of 145,000 according the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent.

American firms continued adding jobs in September 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Their latest tally indicates 136,000 net new jobs were gained in the period.  However, this improvement is slower than the upwardly revised tally of 168,000 (originally 130,000) in August.  Despite the slowing rate of improvement, the unemployment rate fell to just 3.5 percent, th

One of the most-followed economic indicators disappointed in August 2019.  Employment gains decelerated to 130,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Adding to the weakness, the prior two months’ tallies were downwardly revised by 20,000 net new jobs.  However, we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that unemployment is very low; it held steady at 3.7 percent

America’s economy added 224,000 net new jobs in June according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  This latest change to the employment situation was a dramatic uptick from the downwardly revised count of just 72,000 (originally 75,000) in May.  Although the unemployment rate ticked up marginally to 3.7 percent, this release was largely positive.