‘The U.S. Economy Is On Solid Footing’

‘The U.S. Economy Blew Away Expectations For Employment Growth’

“The U.S. economy blew away expectations for employment growth in January adding 304,000 jobs …” (“U.S. Economy Blows Away Jobs Expectations — And Eases Fears Of A Recession,” The Washington Post, 2/01/2019)

• “The gain was well above last year’s average monthly job growth …” (“Economy Notches 100th Straight Month of Increased Employment,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/01/2019)

• “The jobs data reaffirm that the U.S. economy is on solid footing … Hiring last month increased in nearly every major category. The leisure and hospitality sector, including restaurants, added 74,000 employees. Construction firms hired 52,000. The manufacturing, health-care and retail sectors also added jobs.” (“Economy Notches 100th Straight Month of Increased Employment,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/01/2019)

• “The economy added 660,000 blue-collar jobs in the past year, the best annual gain for such jobs since the financial crisis.” (“U.S. Economy Blows Away Jobs Expectations — And Eases Fears Of A Recession,” The Washington Post, 2/01/2019)

The Most Americans Since 2013 ‘Streamed Into An Improved Labor Market Offering More Jobs And Higher Wages’

“The share of American adults working or looking for jobs rose from 63.1 percent to 63.2 percent, highest since September 2013, as more Americans on the sidelines, including discouraged workers and retirees, streamed into an improved labor market offering more jobs and higher wages.” (“Employers Add Booming 304,000 Jobs In January, Marking 100th Straight Month Of Employment Gains,” USA Today, 2/01/2019)

‘Worker Wage Gains Just Broke 3% For The First Time In More Than 10 Years’

“Wages and salaries for American workers rose more than 3 percent over the past year, the first time that threshold has been broken in more than 10 years, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. The employment cost index, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases quarterly, showed a 3.1 percent gain in the wages and salaries component in the fourth quarter of 2018. That's up from 2.9 percent in the third quarter and tied for the biggest gain since the third quarter of 2008, just as worst of the financial crisis hit. Overall, the employment cost index, which also includes benefits costs, rose 2.9 percent for the quarter, which also tied the highest level since the third quarter of 2008.” (“Worker Wage Gains Just Broke 3% For The First Time In More Than 10 Years,” CNBC, 1/31/2019)

Booming Economy ‘Delivering Opportunities To A Broad Swath Of Workers Who Were Disproportionately Affected By The Last Recession’

“[A] wave of disabled Americans [is] joining or returning to the U.S. labor force, breaking a long-running trend that had pushed millions to the sidelines of work. These workers have benefited from a tight economy with a very low overall unemployment rate—3.9% in December, just above lowest level since 1969—as employers in many sectors tackle a shortage of available workers by becoming more creative about whom they recruit.” (“America’s Hidden Workforce Returns,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/26/2019)

• “‘This is really quite a dramatic turnaround,’ said Nicole Maestas, an economist at Harvard Medical School who studies the disability system. ‘Employment among people with disabilities had been declining for a really long time—now it’s not. And it’s not transitory. It’s been increasing for a few years.’” (“America’s Hidden Workforce Returns,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/26/2019)

“The tighter labor market is delivering opportunities to a broad swath of workers who were disproportionately affected by the last recession. Unemployment has fallen sharply for blacks, Latinos, younger workers and those without a college education.” (“America’s Hidden Workforce Returns,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/26/2019)

“The number of American workers receiving federal disability benefits dropped to 8.5 million in December from a peak of 9 million four years earlier as the share of disabled Americans in the labor force rises.” (“America’s Hidden Workforce Returns,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/26/2019)

FactCheck.org: Democrats’ Attacks ‘Presented A Distorted Picture Of The U.S. Economy’

“Stacey Abrams, in the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, presented a distorted picture of the U.S. economy since the Republican-backed tax bill became law. ‘The Republican tax bill rigged the system against working people,’ said Abrams, a former Georgia state legislator who lost her bid to become governor last year. ‘Rather than bringing back jobs, plants are closing, layoffs are looming, and wages struggle to keep pace with the actual cost of living.’ … [O]verall, both total employment and manufacturing employment are up since Trump took office in January 2017, and since he signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law in December 2017.” (“FactChecking Stacey Abrams’ SOTU Response,” FactCheck.org, 2/06/2019)

• “As of this January, total nonfarm employment was up nearly 4.9 million since Trump took office, and it had increased almost 3 million since the tax law was enacted, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates. In addition, employment in the manufacturing sector is up 454,000 since Trump became president, including 277,000 while the tax law has been in effect.” (“FactChecking Stacey Abrams’ SOTU Response,” FactCheck.org, 2/06/2019)

• “Also, weekly earnings, in inflation-adjusted dollars, have been going up under the Trump administration … BLS data show that, as of December, real (or inflation-adjusted) average weekly earnings for rank-and-file production and nonsupervisory workers have gone up 2.6 percent since Trump took office, and almost 1.4 percent since the tax bill became law in December 2017. Similarly, the average real weekly earnings of all private-sector workers have increased by 2.6 percent during Trump’s tenure, and nearly 1.4 percent since December 2017.” (“FactChecking Stacey Abrams’ SOTU Response,” FactCheck.org, 2/06/2019)