According to official Labor Department data, there has been an increase in wages as well as job growth, giving some people hope for the future.
U.S. employers ramped up hiring in January and wage gains rebounded, providing fresh evidence of a durable jobs market that backs the Federal Reserve’s decision to stop cutting interest rates and hands President Donald Trump an early election-year boost.
Payrolls increased by 225,000 after an upwardly revised 147,000 gain in December, according to a Labor Department data Friday that topped all estimates of economists. The jobless rate edged up to 3.6%, still near a half-century low, while average hourly earnings climbed 3.1% from a year earlier.
The dollar maintained gains, yields on the 10-year Treasury were lower and U.S. stocks declined from a record high as investors remained focused on the potential economic fallout from the coronavirus that has now claimed more than 600 lives.
Annual revisions to historical data took some shine off one of Trump’s main bragging points, cutting the 2018 job gain to 2.31 million from 2.68 million. The 2017 and 2019 gains were about 2.1 million, meaning each year under Trump — while still strong — has been slightly slower than the 2.35 million rise in the final year of the Obama administration. (source)
I too would like to be ‘hopeful’ in so far as it means an objectively bright future economically speaking in this context. However, I cannot deny the fundamentals.
Americans are more burdened with credit card debt than ever before, the cost of living continues to rise at a pace not aligned to wages, and people are objectively getting poorer in this sense. If a man cannot truly pay his bills, lives check to check, and cannot service simple debts, how can one say that he is doing well?
To the contrary, I am seeing all of the signs of recession that built up before the great crash of 2007.
The ground usually seems most secure just before it falls out from under one’s feet.
Pay attention, especially to 2022-2023, for the economic indicators suggest a strong chance of recession this year alone, and it will only be worse in a few years, just in time for the 2024 election (and likely Democrat victory).