U.S. adds 210,000 jobs to push unemployment toward 18-year low
WASHINGTON Hiring picked up in August as U.S. employers added a strong 201,000 jobs, a sign of confidence that consumers and businesses will keep spending despite the Trump administration’s conflicts with U.S. trading partners.
The Labor Department said Friday the unemployment rate remained 3.9 per cent, near an 18year low.
Americans’ paycheques grew at a faster pace in August. Average hourly wages rose last month and are now 2.9 per cent higher than they were a year earlier, the fastest year-over-year gain in eight years. Still, after adjusting for inflation, pay has been flat for the past year.
The economy is expanding steadily, fuelled by tax cuts, confident consumers, greater business investment in equipment and more government spending. Growth reached 4.2 per cent at an annual rate in the April-June quarter, the fastest pace in four years.
Most analysts have forecast that the economy will expand at an annual pace of at least three per cent in the current July-September quarter. For the full year, the economy is on track to grow three per cent for the first time since 2005.
Consumer confidence rose in August to its highest level in nearly 18 years. Most Americans feel that jobs are widely available and expect the economy to remain healthy in the coming months, according to the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey.
The mood is lifting spending on everything from cars to restaurant meals to clothes. Consumers’ enthusiasm is even boosting such brick-and-mortar store chains as Target, Walmart and Best Buy, which have posted strong sales gains despite intensifying competition from online retailers.
In August, factories expanded at their quickest pace in 14 years, according to a survey of purchasing managers. A manufacturing index compiled by a trade group reached its highest point since 2004. Measures of new orders and production surged, and factories added jobs at a faster pace than in July.
Not all the economic news has been positive. Higher mortgage rates and years of rapid price increases are slowing the housing market. Sales of existing homes dropped in July for a fourth straight month.