WASHINGTON — Healthy job growth in the United States has reached a level of consistency unseen in nearly two decades.
WASHINGTON — Healthy job growth in the United States has reached a level of consistency unseen in nearly two decades.
In the same week that voters signaled discontent with the U.S. economy, the government issued a report that showed employers have added at least 200,000 jobs for nine straight months — the longest such stretch since 1995.
Combine it with an unemployment rate that has slid to 5.8 percent — the lowest since 2008 — and the picture that emerged Friday was of a job market gaining increasing distance from the recession that officially ended nearly 5½ years ago.
The job gain for October was a solid 214,000, on top of a combined 31,000 more in August and September than the government had previously estimated.
The steady improvement contrasts with the struggles of economies overseas, a key reason the Federal Reserve is withdrawing its stimulus just as other central banks ramp up theirs. This week, for example, the European Central Bank opened the door wider for further help for a eurozone economy that may be on the brink of another recession.
The U.S. job market is hardly without its own weaknesses. Americans’ average hourly pay rose only slightly last month, a negative note in an otherwise solid report. Stagnant wages have been a chronic weakness in the job market since the recession ended.
Voters listed the economy as their top concern in Tuesday’s elections, and the sluggish pace of pay growth was a likely factor. Average hourly pay rose 3 cents in October to $24.57. That’s just 2 percent above the average wage 12 months earlier and barely ahead of a 1.7 percent inflation rate.
Some economists say, though, that they’re seeing early signs of rising pay, especially as more jobs emerge in higher-paying sectors. If so, more workers could begin to enjoy thicker paychecks in coming months. A broad measure of pay and fringe benefits, which captures bonus pay that the jobs report’s gauges miss, has risen in the past six months at its fastest pace since 2008.
“We think that there is plenty of evidence to suggest that … wage growth is accelerating,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell in October even as more Americans began looking for work. That suggests that more out-of-work people were encouraged by the brightening jobs picture.
“This was a great month for the American labor market,” said James Marple, an economist at TD Bank. “The U.S. job engine is not just chugging along, it is gaining speed.”