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America’s strong post-COVID economic recovery continues to stun experts, as employers added 216,000 jobs in December, strongly surpassing expectations of just 175,000 new jobs. Unemployment held steady at 3.7%, making it the 23rd month in a row where unemployment was below 4%. A 5% unemployment rate is considered “full employment,” so for nearly two years the U.S. economy has been doing substantially better on that front.
It’s not just that more Americans are employed, but wages are rising as well.
“Average hourly wages rose 4.1% from a year earlier, up from a 4% gain in November,” ABC News reported, noting, “average hourly pay has outpaced inflation over the past year, leaving Americans with more money to spend. Indeed, as they did for much of 2023, consumers, a huge engine for U.S. economic growth, hit the stores in November, shopped online, went out to restaurants or traveled.”
As wages and payrolls expand, inflation has tumbled, from a recent high of 9.1% in June of 2022, to just 3.1%.
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“Despite the low unemployment and cooling inflation, polls show that many Americans are dissatisfied with the economy. That disconnect, which will likely be an issue in the 2024 elections, has puzzled economists and political analysts.”
Economists and political analysts are heralding the latest jobs report, and the overall U.S. economy.
“America’s recovery is the envy of the world,” declared Bharat Ramamurti, the former deputy director of the National Economic Council, responding to Friday’s jobs report.
“Job creation in every year under President Biden has exceeded job creation in any year under President Trump,” observed former Biden White House Office of Management and Budget executive associate director Michael Linden, adding: “Big drop in the Black unemployment rate, which is good to see since it was up a bit over the last few months.”
Former CNBC and CNN journalist John Harwood noted, “more jobs were added in 2023, when so many described the economy as lousy, than in any year of Trump’s presidency, when they described it as good.”
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Even former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, who has publicly suggested President Biden might want to consider not running for re-election, offered praise, of a sort:
“Said it before but one key to the election is whether attitudes about the economy catch up w/a pretty remarkable series of numbers on jobs, wages & falling inflation. Whether people want to credit Biden or not, he’s presided over an impressive recovery.”
Political strategist Simon Rosenberg offered up a few charts comparing job creation under Democratic presidents and Republican presidents.
Jobs have been created at more than 40 times the rate under Biden than under the last 3 GOP Presidents. Last month was almost two years of job growth under the Bushes and Trump. Econ track record of GOP since Cold War ended among worst in US history. 2/ pic.twitter.com/ti0Zibr8F3
— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) January 5, 2024
The New York Times’ Paul Krugman, an economist, professor of economics, and Nobel laureate, summed up the past year: “Dude, where’s my recession? In 2023 we gained 2.7 million jobs and saw inflation plunge with no significant rise in unemployment. Doomsayers should be engaging in some significant soul-searching.”
See the charts above or at this link.
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