The Booming U.S. Job Market: A Blessing for the Economy or a Challenge for Households?
The U.S. labor market grew emphatically last month, adding 256,000 jobs and taking down the unemployment rate to 4.1 percent from the anticipated 4.2 percent. While that would be an enticing picture of an economy in health, it puts a damper on households and businesses who could have hoped for quick interest-rate cuts to lower the cost of borrowing for houses, cars, or even appliances. According to the Labor Department, the biggest job gains were notched up in healthcare, at 46,000; retail, at 43,000; and government jobs at the federal, state, and local levels, at 33,000. The unexpected surge underlines the resilience of the labor market, even as interest rates sit significantly higher than pre-pandemic…
