How will this affect trade negotiations and rates of internal migration? This thread is really that simple. My first take is that it buys Trump a lot of time on virtually all fronts but especially the shutdown. Beyond that I am uncertain what this data means economically and politically.
IMO, the Establishment Survey is overrated. You can never be sure how much the goofy Birth Death model is factored into it (even though they tell you what that number supposedly is).
Also, the Household Survey (which I put more stock in) showed only 142,000 more people employed.
Table A-9. Selected employment indicators
And the Employment-Population Ratio number (something I find far more reliable than the joke U-3 - which rose 0.2% BTW) didn't budge.
Employment–population ratio
Plus, Challenger reported HUGE job layoffs for December - especially in Construction.
2018 Challenger Report: Annual Total Up 29 Percent, Highest Since 2015
The best news - to me - was the large, average hourly earnings increase.
And that was the ONLY REAL good news in the report.
So, overall, I would call it a mixed bag. Not bad. Not great. Decent.
But the MSM media ignores the details and just looks at the U-3, the Establishment job growth (seasonally adjusted, of course) and the income difference.
Which just shows how clueless/basic they are on this.
