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Expectations heading into this morning showed projections of about 190,000 new jobs having been added in the United States in May. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market managed to do quite a bit better than that. CNBC reported:
The U.S. economy added far more jobs than expected in May, countering fears of a slowdown in the labor market and likely reducing the Federal Reserve’s impetus to lower interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 272,000 for the month, up from 165,000 in April and well ahead of the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 190,000.
In addition to the encouraging top-line data, we also learned that wage growth continued to outpace inflation. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, inched a little higher in the new report, climbing to 4% from 3.9%. That’s still incredibly low in historical terms, though this is the first time since November 2021 that the jobless rate has reached this level. (Americans saw 27 consecutive months of unemployment below 4% — a streak unseen in the United States since the 1960s.)
Nevertheless, what matters most about today’s report is the surprisingly robust number of jobs that are still being created. I’m mindful of polls showing a discouraged public, but over 1.2 million jobs have been created so far this year, and if this pace keeps up, the United States will see roughly 3 million new jobs this year, which is extraordinary.
As for the politics, let’s circle back to previous coverage to put the data in perspective. Over the course of the first three years of Donald Trump’s presidency — when the Republican said the U.S. economy was the greatest in the history of the planet — the economy created roughly 6.38 million jobs, spanning all of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
According to the latest tally, the U.S. economy has created over 16 million jobs since January 2021 — more than double the combined total of Trump’s first three years.
In recent months, Republicans have responded to developments like these by pretending not to notice them. No one should be surprised if GOP officials keep the trend going today.
For some additional context, consider job growth by year over the past decade, updated to reflect the latest data revisions:
2013: 2.3 million
2014: 3 million
2015: 2.7 million
2016: 2.3 million
2017: 2.1 million
2018: 2.3 million
2019: 1.98 million
2020: -9.3 million
2021: 7.2 million
2022: 4.5 million
2023: 3 million
Five months into 2024: 1.2 million
This post updates our related earlier coverage.