US job creation has the ability to withstand anything. After 20 months of intense work by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to cool the economy and curb inflation with interest rate hikes, the US labor market added 336,000 jobs in September, twice as many as expected (170,000).
These numbers are in line with the best months, above the first quarter average of 310,000. And it is in the monthly average of the three years prior to the pandemic.
In contrast, the unemployment rate remained at 3.8% when forecasts lowered it to 3.7%. This means that despite criticism from conservatives of White House policy and the disconnect, according to polls, between citizens’ discomfort with the economy’s run and the results, many more people went out looking for opportunities to work They considered that there were good conditions, while unemployment remains at historic lows. The workforce rose to 62.8%, still half a point below the pre-covid era.
“If we watch television, we don’t see the news of a child saving a dog while swimming in a lake, but of someone who has thrown the dog into the lake,” Biden replied about the negative polls in an appearance before of the cameras Using the term Bidenomics to refer to his economic measures, the president emphasized that “it is working”. He insisted that his Administration has created 13.9 million jobs in two and a half years.
The impressive increase in jobs had a contradictory effect on Wall Street. Responding to a 200-point decline in the Dow Jones, it later recovered.
September is the 33rd consecutive month of expansion of occupations. Wages grew by 0.2% compared to August and by 4.2% compared to September 2022.
In addition to the strong job creation in September, the revisions of the previous two months are also on the rise. In August, 227,000 jobs were added, 40,000 more than those reported on the day, while in July it stood at 236,000, compared to 157,000. Between the two months there were 119,000 more jobs than were reported.
These data, favorable for citizens, may increase the concern of the governors of the Fed in their fight against the rise in prices in the consumption basket. If they agreed to another pause on rates at last month’s meeting, after eleven hikes since March 2022, the strength of the labor market has the ability to influence Federal Reserve governors not to wait more and raise the cost of money at the next meeting in November as they certify that their work against inflation is not yet finished.
