How Strong Is the United States Economy?
That’s the question investors were mulling after last week’s jobs report. More jobs were created in May than economists expected, and the labor force participation rate rose, meaning even more people are returning to work. Overall, the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent. However, unemployment rates varied by age, sex and race: Adult men: 3.4 percent Adult women: 3.4 percent Asian: 2.4 percent Black: 6.2 percent Hispanic: 4.3 percent White: 3.2 percent Teenagers: 10.4 percent From an inflation perspective, there was some good news in the employment report as earnings increased at a slower pace than in previous months. Apart from that bit of good news, “More jobs added and higher wages are signs of a strong economy…the concern is that inflation will remain close to its recent peak,” reported Joel Woelfel and Jacob Sonenshine of Barron’s.