The unemployment rate just fell to the lowest rate in almost 50 years despite job growth slowing quite a bit due to Hurricane Florence:
AP – U.S. employers added just 134,000 jobs in September, the fewest in a year, though the figure was likely lowered by Hurricane Florence, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent, the lowest level since 1969.
Hurricane Florence struck North and South Carolina in the middle of September and closed thousands of businesses. A category that includes restaurants, hotels and casinos lost jobs for the first time since last September, when Hurricane Harvey had a similar effect.
Even with unemployment now at a historic low, average hourly pay increased just 2.8 percent from a year earlier in September, one tick below the yearly gain in August.
Consumers, business executives and most economists remain optimistic. Measures of consumer confidence are at or near their highest levels in 18 years. Retailers have begun scrambling to hire enough workers for what’s expected to be a robust holiday shopping season. A survey of service-sector firms, including banks, hotels and health care providers, found that they are expanding at their fastest pace in a decade.
During the April-June quarter, the U.S. economy expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate, the best in four years. Economists have forecast that growth reached a 3 percent to 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter.
So it’s not all good news this month, but I think it’s probably not the best month to be drawing conclusions on the economy right now given that we’re in the middle of Hurricane season.
But I’m sure Trump will be touting that 3.7% figure on Twitter very soon. In fact I’m surprised he hasn’t already.