Yea, three cheers, the economy's great -- payroll numbers are soft!
And, lest you think I'm just a whiner, I'm retired and live rather comfortably off of my investments.But many other aspects of the data were soft.
Average hourly earnings rose a scant 0.1 percent, or 2 cents, last month.
Over the past 12 months, earnings have risen 3.9 percent -- matching the revised July gain as the highest since June 2001. But many economists had braced for a sharper 0.3 percent monthly rise that could have fostered concerns over potential interest-rate hikes.
In addition, the length of the average work week dipped by 0.1 hours to 33.8 hours, pulling down an index of overall hours worked in a potential sign of soft growth.
"All in all, it's a very inflation-friendly and Fed-friendly report," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research in New York. "It doesn't suggest any economic frailty, but it supports a sidelined Fed."
What the hell is the economy supposed to be for if it isn't there to sustain the population?
posted by walldon | 9:59 AM
1 Comments:
Maybe it's time to put pressure on the reporters who think the Wall Street reaction is the only one, or the main one, that matters. We should start demanding that they give the greatest effect to the employment side of the report -- get the comments of a liberal labor economist (and run them first). The fact is, the assumption that Wall Street or bank economists are the last word is poor journalism -- nothing new.
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