It’s working! U.S. creates 222,000 jobs

GOOD NEWS, AMERICA: The national workforce added a healthy 222,000 jobs in June, the highest monthly figure yet during the Trump administration.

The unexpected economic surge outperformed projections from economists, and arrived Friday with additional good news — a bump in estimates across the last two months added another 47,000 jobs.

Even a slight uptick in the unemployment figures came with a silver lining. More Americans were returning to the job market, indicating a confidence in the national economy.

The 4.4% unemployment rate was up just a tad from 4.3% a month earlier. The numbers for minorities were the best in more than a decade — the unemployment rate among blacks dropped to 7.1%, its lowest in 17 years, and to 4.8% among Latinos, the lowest in 11 years.

“It’s a good report for the economy,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo.

The biggest June gains were posted in the health care industry, with 59,100 new hires. There were also an additional 35,000 government jobs, most on the local level, and 16,000 construction jobs.

“Really great numbers on jobs & the economy!” Trump tweeted earlier this week. “Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun!”

Expectations for a June job increase were around 179,000 — a figure that was easily exceeded. And numbers indicate Americans are spending more now than they did in the first three months of 2017, another positive sign.

Experts believe the latest figures indicate the economy could grow by up to 2.5% over the second half of the year, an increase from the sluggish average of 2% in the eight years since the recession ended.

“It really does say that we’ve got 2%-plus growth for the second half of the year,” said Silvia.

The numbers for the first three months of 2017 showed an annual increase of only 1.4%.

The good news was tempered a bit by other factors: A mere 2.5% bounce in the hourly pay rate and job cuts in the auto industry. The average hourly earnings now stand at $26.25.

The figures through the midpoint of 2017 average roughly 180,000 jobs per month, just slightly behind last year’s pace under the Obama administration.