News
‘Wowza’: Economists Thrilled With ‘Huge’ Jobs Report and Wages Outpacing Prices
The September jobs report is a stunning confirmation of just how “strong” and “resilient” the U.S economy is, according to economic experts who are celebrating Friday morning.
“US economy smashes expectations with 254,000 jobs added in September,” The Financial Times reports, “far outstripping expectations.”
“Wowza: HUGE jobs report,” exclaimed Professor of economics Justin Wolfers, a senior fellow at Brookings and a frequent guest on cable news. “This economic expansion that is motoring along.”
“This is a great September jobs report,” declared The Washington Post’s Heather Long. “The ‘soft landing’ is still on track.”
The New York Times’ economic reporter, Talmon Joseph Smith, summed up the news:
LMAOOO — THE US ECONOMY IS INCREDIBLE
— talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) October 4, 2024
Economists had expected 140,000 to 159,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, continuing the Biden administration’s historic record of producing and maintaining unemployment at five-decade lows.
READ MORE: JD Vance Says ‘Yes’ Trump Won in 2020 Then Walks Away When Asked ‘Will You Concede?’
“Average hourly earnings grew 0.4% last month, and are now up 4.0% over the year. There’s no question that wages are running ahead of prices, and people are seeing meaningful real wage gains,” he added. Wolfers says he’s “been relentlessly optimistic about the economy for the past couple of years, and it’s felt lonely at times during the drumbeat of ‘recession’ talk, but it’s also been a pretty great place to be. If you were looking for what a soft landing looks like, this is it.”
Bloomberg News adds, “Unemployment for major ethnic groups — Black, White, Hispanic — fell, while the Asian unemployment rate held steady.”
“These numbers are a bit of a game-changer,” says Josh Hirt at Vanguard. “When you look at the revisions too, this changes the narrative about the underlying pace of job growth” https://t.co/pgK7zcEA5a pic.twitter.com/gyELnECgpa
— Colby Smith (@colbyLsmith) October 4, 2024
President Biden, who worked with the dockworkers union to bring an extraordinarily fast end to their strike that ended after just three days this week, took a victory lap.
READ MORE: ‘Judicially Executed Cover Up’: Experts Say Jack Smith Filing ‘Major Indictment’ of SCOTUS
“Today, we received good news for American workers and families with more than 250,000 new jobs in September and unemployment back down at 4.1%,” President Biden said in a statement. “With today’s report, we’ve created 16 million jobs, unemployment remains low, and wages are growing faster than prices. Under my Administration, unemployment has been the lowest in 50 years, a record 19 million new businesses have been created, and inflation and interest rates are falling. And we’re seeing the power of collective bargaining to lift up workers’ wages—including the progress made by dockworkers on record wages with carriers, and port operators and the reopening of East Coast and Gulf ports.”
Biden also took a swipe at Republicans.
“Congress should pass our plan to build millions of new homes, expand prescription drug price caps, empower workers and protect the right to organize, and cut taxes for hardworking families. Congressional Republicans have a different plan—more giant tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, ending the Affordable Care Act, undermining workers by cutting overtime and making it harder to organize, and imposing a national sales tax that would raise costs by nearly $4,000 per year. While they put billionaires first, we’ll keep fighting to grow the middle class.”
See the social media posts above or at this link.
READ MORE: ‘Biggest Whopper of the Night’: Vance’s ‘Heap of Lies’ on Abortion Was ‘Jaw-Dropping’
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.