The U.S. economy showed surprising growth in the wake of the presidential election. A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the economy added 178,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent from October, a sign the economy is steadily improving since the recession. Clearly, the surprising election results didn’t have an effect on too many employers’ outlooks.
Economists had projected 180,000 new jobs to be added in November, which was the average for the first 11 months of 2016. Although the numbers fall just shy of that number, the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest it has been since August 2007. Josh Feinman, chief global economist at Deutsche Asset Management, told The Washington Post how the latest report is promising: “Overall, it’s a labor market that is continuing to improve, that has a decent momentum … So that’s certainly encouraging.”
Job growth was one of the most hotly debated topics during the election season and one of Donald Trump’s cornerstones. The president-elect promised to keep jobs in the country and tweak trade rules to bring the U.S. economy back to prominence. He’s done that so far, albeit with some caveats. Despite some economists being a bit apprehensive about the direction of the post-election economy, their fears can be put to bed for the time being.
(Via The Washington Post & CNN Money)