September 1, 2006
HAD ENOUGH?:
US employers add 128,000 jobs in August, unemployment rate falls to 4.7 pct (AFX, 9/01/06)
US employers added 128,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate fell a notch to 4.7 pct, the Labor Department said.In July, the number of jobs added was revised to 121,000 from 113,000.
Consumer spending up in July (Associated Press, September 1, 2006)
Consumers increased their spending in July by the largest amount in six months and the back-to-school shopping season got off to a strong start in August, boosting hopes the economy will not stumble into a recession this year. [...]Meanwhile, many of the nation's retailers reported solid gains for back-to-school shopping in August, led by better-than-expected increases at retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and many teen retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Wet Seal Inc.
The new reports provided evidence that consumers are continuing to spend despite rising interest rates, a cooling housing market and gasoline prices that hit records this summer above $3 per gallon.
Sliding gas prices a late summer treat (GREG EDWARDS, September 1, 2006, Richmond TIMES-DISPATCH)
Falling gas prices certainly won't hurt travel plans this Labor Day weekend, says Martha Meade at AAA Mid-Atlantic. [...]The average price of regular gasoline in Richmond yesterday was $2.64 per gallon, down from $2.98 a month ago but ahead of the Aug. 31, 2005, average price of $2.57 per gallon, according to the association.
Can you really afford two more years of the Reagan boom, when Democrats promise to take us back to the 70s? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 1, 2006 12:16 PM
Gas was at $2.48 a gallon here yesterday (W. KY).
Posted by: Bartman at September 1, 2006 12:37 PMAny hurricane that even comes close to breathing on the Gulf of Mexico beteen Labor Day and Election Day is going to be greeted by the big media outlets with the same time of panic-mongering not seen since Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds" broadcast, in hopes of talking oil futures back up and economic confidence down.
Posted by: John at September 1, 2006 3:15 PMSelective reporting.
128,000 jobs sounds impressive, until you read elsewhere that more than that needed to be added to keep up with population growth.
The boost in consumer spending sounds nice, too, except when you read right in the article that it coincides with back-to-school shopping (did some of that myself, last weekend), and you fail to find anywhere a comparison to similar Julys and Augusts for any other year.
I suppose lower gas prices are pretty neat, though.
Oh, and what Reagan boom? It was Carter's boom. All Reagan did was continue and expand what Carter started.
Posted by: M. at September 1, 2006 5:07 PMJohn:
I agree that the next hurricane in the Gulf will cause palpitations throughout the mass media. I disagree that this will be because of a general conspiracy to bring "economic confidence down." It will be because disasters are good for ratings, as are threats of disasters. Hyping them is simply good business. Irresponsible, perhaps, but lucrative.
Posted by: M. at September 1, 2006 5:13 PMReagan broke the unions, told Volcker to raise as high as he needed, ended the USSR, and began the return of Free Trade. The rest has been easy.
Posted by: oj at September 1, 2006 5:43 PM"Carter's boom"
Never heard of such a thing. The recession from Carter's Administration extended until 1982 as I remember. The good things Carter did were to appoint Volcker ( who out of desperation had to raise interest ratess), and deregulate trucking and Airlines.
Posted by: h-man at September 1, 2006 5:52 PMM, didn't you mean, Carter goes boom.
Posted by: erp at September 1, 2006 6:36 PMM.
I believe you are incorrect that job growth is not keeping pace with labor force growth. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the labor force is 144,600,000. Therefore, I believe the number of jobs required to keep up with the growing labor force is approximately 120,500 per month (1,446,000 per year). That is due to labor force growth of 1% or so per year.
One point you forgot to include is that there are two monthly job growth indicators--the household survey and the establishment survey. Business payrolls (establishment survey) grew by 128,000 in August, which alone is sufficient as shown above. But you neglected to mention household job growth (self-employment, consultants, contractors etc.) which grew by about 250,000 jobs in August according to the BLS.
Posted by: Kurt Brouwer at September 3, 2006 5:35 AM