07-06-2018, 10:22 AM
The jobs/employment report for June 2018 was another very good one overall.
--The U.S. added 213,000 jobs in June, topping economist forecasts of 195,000. Healthcare, manufacturing, and construction saw the biggest gains.
-- However, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4% from 3.8%.
--There’s a very real question about how much “slack” is left in the labor force, even after years of strong hiring. One broader measure of underemployment, the U-6 rate that includes discouraged and part-time workers, edged up to 7.8% in June from 7.6% a month earlier.
--Labor force participation rates also remain well below pre-crisis levels, suggesting there's still more room for people to enter the workforce. That rate climbed last month.
--Wage growth isn’t making as much of a difference for workers as some would hope. Wages rose 2.7% from a year earlier in June, below the 2.8% increase economists had expected. Compared to a month earlier, wages grew 0.2%. But inflation is also picking up and could soon outpace wages, meaning workers likely aren’t feeling any richer.
--The manufacturing labor market is strong, suggesting key parts of the U.S. economy haven’t felt a huge impact from tariffs just yet. The manufacturing sector added 36,000 jobs in June, an acceleration from the 19,000 jobs added in the sector in May. Escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China haven’t yet deterred employers from hiring.
--The Federal Reserve has little reason to be worried that the economy is going to overheat. Even as the U.S. continues to add jobs at a rapid clip, wage growth has remained benign and there are signs more workers are returning to the labor force. Given that, central bankers aren’t likely to want to ramp up the pace of rate hikes aggressively.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/june-20...t-analysis
--The U.S. added 213,000 jobs in June, topping economist forecasts of 195,000. Healthcare, manufacturing, and construction saw the biggest gains.
-- However, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4% from 3.8%.
--There’s a very real question about how much “slack” is left in the labor force, even after years of strong hiring. One broader measure of underemployment, the U-6 rate that includes discouraged and part-time workers, edged up to 7.8% in June from 7.6% a month earlier.
--Labor force participation rates also remain well below pre-crisis levels, suggesting there's still more room for people to enter the workforce. That rate climbed last month.
--Wage growth isn’t making as much of a difference for workers as some would hope. Wages rose 2.7% from a year earlier in June, below the 2.8% increase economists had expected. Compared to a month earlier, wages grew 0.2%. But inflation is also picking up and could soon outpace wages, meaning workers likely aren’t feeling any richer.
--The manufacturing labor market is strong, suggesting key parts of the U.S. economy haven’t felt a huge impact from tariffs just yet. The manufacturing sector added 36,000 jobs in June, an acceleration from the 19,000 jobs added in the sector in May. Escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China haven’t yet deterred employers from hiring.
--The Federal Reserve has little reason to be worried that the economy is going to overheat. Even as the U.S. continues to add jobs at a rapid clip, wage growth has remained benign and there are signs more workers are returning to the labor force. Given that, central bankers aren’t likely to want to ramp up the pace of rate hikes aggressively.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/june-20...t-analysis