Longest Economic Expansion in U.S. History: Trump Economy Adds Another 224,000 Jobs
Trader
Joseph Lawler, left, and Chris Crotty work on the floor of the New York
Stock Exchange, Monday, March 11, 2019. Stocks are opening broadly
higher on Wall Street, although a sharp drop in Boeing is pushing the
Dow Jones Industrial Average lower. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The news release
by the U.S. Department of Labor today was important not only because it
showed an improving job market, but also because it confirmed that the
U.S. has officially entered the longest recorded economic expansion in
U.S. history.
The U.S.
economy made significant gains in June as employment increased by
224,000 and the unemployment rate remained largely unchanged at 3.7
percent.
These payroll growth numbers have been the best gain since January
and ran contrary to worries that both the employment picture and
overall growth picture were beginning to worsen. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal originally expected the economy to only add 165,000 jobs in June.
The most notable gains occurred in professional and business services, in health care, and in transportation and warehousing.
June marked the tenth anniversary of the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009. In July, the U.S. entered the 121st month of economic expansion arising out of the financial crisis.
The Financial Times elaborates:
“The post-crisis US economic expansion this week became the longest
uninterrupted stretch of growth in modern American history.”
The previous record was set during the 120-month expansion from March 1991 to March 2001, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Including today’s June nonfarm payroll employment numbers, President Trump has created roughly 5.6 million jobs since he first took office in January 20, 2017.
The unemployment rate increased very slightly from 3.6 to 3.7 percent, but this still makes June the 16th consecutive month at or below 4 percent and the lowest unemployment rate since 1969.
Among
racial groups, Asians saw the greatest drop in unemployment rates (fall
of roughly 1.1 percent from June 2018), while blacks saw the second
largest drop with a 0.5 percent decrease.
The
average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls
increased by 3.1 percent compared to the average hourly earnings in June
2018. This marked the 11th straight month that year-over-year wage gains were at or above 3 percent.
The White House added that “prior to 2018, nominal average hourly wage gains had not reached 3 percent since April 2009.”
The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent, remained largely unchanged over the past month and the past year.
This
jobs report is expected to complicate the Federal Reserve’s decision
whether to cut interest rates to help boost the economy.
President Trump on Friday encouraged the chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell to cut rates saying, “If we had a Fed that would lower interest rates, we’d be like a rocket ship.”
Regardless
of the Federal Reserve’s influence, President Trump still ensures that
our American ship continues to fly high and set history.
