Jobs News

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May was a month of solid labor growth. The payroll survey found employers added 280,000 net new jobs, and the household survey found large numbers of Americans entering the labor force. Average wages also rose substantially. Over the past year average earnings have risen almost twice as fast…

As far as the Bureau of Labor Statistics is concerned, the economy started 2015 with a bang. The agency’s January employment figures found strong growth throughout the labor market. Employers created more than a quarter-million jobs, labor force participation surged and wages rose. The report is long-overdue good news for workers who have suffered through…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November employment report showed solid economic growth, but also provides clues about why many Americans report unhappiness with the economy. The headline figures contained mostly good news. The household survey reported the unemployment rate remaining flat (5.8 percent) at the lowest rate since July 2008.  Labor force participation also remained flat…

On the jobs front, it’s a story of not much better and not much worse. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July employment report shows middling growth in the labor market. It shows no hint of economic backsliding, but it also shows few signs of the robust growth many economists hoped for—and expected. The report stated…

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics had encouraging news for Americans. The June jobs report contained some of the best labor market figures since the recession began. Employers added 288,000 net new jobs, and the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 6.1 percent—the lowest since the financial crises worsened in September 2008. Unlike previous…

There was good news and bad news in today’s jobs report, and both came from what the report did not show. The did not show either the warning or hopeful signs that many economists anticipated. The good news: Despite the U.S. economy shrinking in the first quarter–its first quarterly contraction in three years–job growth remained healthy. Employers added 217,000…