Let's hope it continues into the new year!

Quote:US employers added 312,000 jobs in December, well above what economists expected and underlining that the American economy remains strong despite recent market turbulence.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% as more people were looking for work. It had been at a 50-year low of 3.7% for two of the last three months.
Employers added 2.6 million jobs in 2018, compared to 2.2 million in 2017. Revisions to the October and November estimates added an additional 58,000 jobs to the 2018 total.

Economists had forecast the pace of hiring would slow, as employers had trouble finding the workers they needed. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Refinitiv was for 177,000 new jobs. Instead, employers added the highest number of jobs since February 2018, and the second-highest number of jobs added during any month of the Trump administration.

Hiring surged in December, employers added 312,000 jobs

Remember when good numbers were called fake?

BTW this thread will not devolve into a Thanks Trump / Thanks Obama shitestorm like all the other threads on monthly this or thats.

Do not do it.

Quote:The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% as more people were looking for work. It had been at a 50-year low of 3.7% for two of the last three months.
Employers added 2.6 million jobs in 2018, compared to 2.2 million in 2017. Revisions to the October and November estimates added an additional 58,000 jobs to the 2018 total.

I'm surprised that there was still this much slack in the labor force. I knew the labor participation rate remained stagnant for the past few years, but failed to realize that the participation rate was still affected by those who gave up looking for work. I thought we were in a trough of baby boomer retirements followed by GenX - which is smaller than both the Boomers and the Millenials.

Lots of temp seasonal jobs in the data? Not saying the data is bad; however, it's always good to look behind the numbers.

Unemployment very low - which is great...I feel that we now must find a way to address the national debt and deficit spending that has plagued the last 12 years. Unsustainable. This is going to blow up in our faces one way or another if we dont take action in the near term.

(01-04-2019 10:33 AM)miko33 Wrote:  

Quote:The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% as more people were looking for work. It had been at a 50-year low of 3.7% for two of the last three months.
Employers added 2.6 million jobs in 2018, compared to 2.2 million in 2017. Revisions to the October and November estimates added an additional 58,000 jobs to the 2018 total.

I'm surprised that there was still this much slack in the labor force. I knew the labor participation rate remained stagnant for the past few years, but failed to realize that the participation rate was still affected by those who gave up looking for work. I thought we were in a trough of baby boomer retirements followed by GenX - which is smaller than both the Boomers and the Millenials.

A know a few retired guys who've gotten back in the work force because they can't stand being with their wives all day.

It certainly is good news - better than no new jobs. With that said, just this number without labor participation doesn't necessarily tell a whole lot.....

I'm thinking that the economic train is about to slow down though. IMO, corporate America largely sat on the sidelines and didn't commit to expanding during the entirety of the Obama presidency because the Democrats kept up the mantra of sticking it to the rich and corporations via taxation the whole time.

I expect this new Democrat house to shortly start that drumbeat again - wondering if it may cause the decision makers to go right back to the sidelines or not..........

(01-04-2019 10:35 AM)VA49er Wrote:  Lots of temp seasonal jobs in the data? Not saying the data is bad; however, it's always good to look behind the numbers.

Often these sorts of numbers are 'seasonally adjusted'... It didn't say whether these were or not, but certainly when economists predicted growth, they assumed what you're describing... so it's still a good number....

Here is perhaps the BEST part of it....

Paychecks grew as employers raised wages to attract new workers. Average hourly pay was up 3.2% compared to a year earlier. The average number of hours people worked also edged up.
"It appears that higher wages are the reason why people are returning to the active labor force in large numbers," said Paul Ashworth, chief US Economist with Capital Economics.

emphasis mine

THIS is how you increase the minimum wage.... and then when no employers can find workers willing to work for less than say $12/hr, nobody minds when you raise the mi wage to $10 or even $11. Companies can raise the cost of goods and people don't mind because they're making more.

It's when (and where) you can easily find people willing to work for $8 that raising the wage to $10 is bad, because employers have to raise prices to cover it, which only makes the $8 wage worth less.

(01-04-2019 12:11 PM)Crebman Wrote:  It certainly is good news - better than no new jobs. With that said, just this number without labor participation doesn't necessarily tell a whole lot.....

I'm thinking that the economic train is about to slow down though. IMO, corporate America largely sat on the sidelines and didn't commit to expanding during the entirety of the Obama presidency because the Democrats kept up the mantra of sticking it to the rich and corporations via taxation the whole time.

I expect this new Democrat house to shortly start that drumbeat again - wondering if it may cause the decision makers to go right back to the sidelines or not..........

Corporate leaders are starting to get pessimistic and expect a recession.

(01-04-2019 10:22 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Let's hope it continues into the new year!

Quote:US employers added 312,000 jobs in December, well above what economists expected and underlining that the American economy remains strong despite recent market turbulence.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% as more people were looking for work. It had been at a 50-year low of 3.7% for two of the last three months.
Employers added 2.6 million jobs in 2018, compared to 2.2 million in 2017. Revisions to the October and November estimates added an additional 58,000 jobs to the 2018 total.

Economists had forecast the pace of hiring would slow, as employers had trouble finding the workers they needed. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Refinitiv was for 177,000 new jobs. Instead, employers added the highest number of jobs since February 2018, and the second-highest number of jobs added during any month of the Trump administration.

Hiring surged in December, employers added 312,000 jobs

Remember when good numbers were called fake?

I also seem to remember when numbers got continuously revised DOWNWARDS. Times have changed.

(01-04-2019 12:11 PM)Crebman Wrote:  It certainly is good news - better than no new jobs. With that said, just this number without labor participation doesn't necessarily tell a whole lot.....

I'm thinking that the economic train is about to slow down though. IMO, corporate America largely sat on the sidelines and didn't commit to expanding during the entirety of the Obama presidency because the Democrats kept up the mantra of sticking it to the rich and corporations via taxation the whole time.

I expect this new Democrat house to shortly start that drumbeat again - wondering if it may cause the decision makers to go right back to the sidelines or not..........

The bold is true... Little investment (at least early on) in long term projects because they were told that a big tax hike was coming which never came.... but I think eventually they started coming around to the idea that tax hikes/tax the rich was a lie.... especially when Republicans took back control of Congress

I see more teenagers in jobs than I have in 10 years.

And if you see one at a place, you'll see five. So they and their buddies have discovered money.

This is a great thing for the economy and for our youth.

(01-04-2019 10:36 AM)MonarchManiac Wrote:  Unemployment very low - which is great...I feel that we now must find a way to address the national debt and deficit spending that has plagued the last 12 years. Unsustainable. This is going to blow up in our faces one way or another if we dont take action in the near term.

There is only one way the debt will be addressed since there is no political will and that is through inflation. The fed is hellbent on stopping it, but at some point it becomes inevitable.

(01-04-2019 01:40 PM)Claw Wrote:  I see more teenagers in jobs than I have in 10 years.

And if you see one at a place, you'll see five. So they and their buddies have discovered money.

This is a great thing for the economy and for our youth.

I live in a rather high·fa·lu·tin community (of which I like to joke I am the poorest member of) and I shite you not I saw a kid getting dropped off to work at the local grocery store in a brand new Bentley Flying Spur.

I lol'd. Poor kid.

(01-04-2019 01:58 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 01:40 PM)Claw Wrote:  I see more teenagers in jobs than I have in 10 years.

And if you see one at a place, you'll see five. So they and their buddies have discovered money.

This is a great thing for the economy and for our youth.

I live in a rather high·fa·lu·tin community (of which I like to joke I am the poorest member of) and I shite you not I saw a kid getting dropped off to work at the local grocery store in a brand new Bentley Flying Spur.

I lol'd. Poor kid.

Good for the parents and the kid. Teaching/Learning to work even though apparently wealthy.

Interesting that the OP stopped his quotation of the article right before this nugget:

Additionally, wages rose 3.2 percent year-over-year, the best jump in a decade.

(01-04-2019 01:40 PM)Claw Wrote:  I see more teenagers in jobs than I have in 10 years.

And if you see one at a place, you'll see five. So they and their buddies have discovered money.

This is a great thing for the economy and for our youth.

I'm starting to see more incompetent staff.

(01-04-2019 12:54 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 12:11 PM)Crebman Wrote:  It certainly is good news - better than no new jobs. With that said, just this number without labor participation doesn't necessarily tell a whole lot.....

I'm thinking that the economic train is about to slow down though. IMO, corporate America largely sat on the sidelines and didn't commit to expanding during the entirety of the Obama presidency because the Democrats kept up the mantra of sticking it to the rich and corporations via taxation the whole time.

I expect this new Democrat house to shortly start that drumbeat again - wondering if it may cause the decision makers to go right back to the sidelines or not..........

The bold is true... Little investment (at least early on) in long term projects because they were told that a big tax hike was coming which never came.... but I think eventually they started coming around to the idea that tax hikes/tax the rich was a lie.... especially when Republicans took back control of Congress

Oh, I agree. Mostly what the corporations want is stability and tax rates at least in line with other Western countries levy. I think all the lefties talk of jacking up the rates makes them edgy that the Dems might actually win and do it.

It doesn’t lead to confidence in those that have the funds to spend on expansions, etc..........

(01-04-2019 04:53 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 01:40 PM)Claw Wrote:  I see more teenagers in jobs than I have in 10 years.

And if you see one at a place, you'll see five. So they and their buddies have discovered money.

This is a great thing for the economy and for our youth.

I'm starting to see more incompetent staff.

That might be true too. :)