On Friday’s broadcast of WBUR’s “Here and Now,” MSNBC Chief Economics Correspondent and MSNBC host Ali Velshi stated that the August jobs report shows job creation that is at “a lower number than what you need to sort of maintain steady employment.” And that while wages are outpacing the inflation rate, “a lot of people who have to pay for rent or car insurance or home insurance or various other things have an inflation rate that’s higher.”
Velshi said, “We created 142,000 net new jobs in August. Now, that was below expectations. It was supposed to be 161,000, or at least that’s what was anticipated. And 142 [thousand] is a lower number than what you need to sort of maintain steady employment. Generally, in the last year, we’ve averaged about 200,000 net new jobs a month. But, as you commented, last month was 114,000. Now, the other number, which I don’t like as much, is the unemployment rate. It ticked down slightly to 4.2%. But the denominator on that changes every month, so I worry less about that than the actual number of jobs created.”
He continued, “When you have this level of unemployment, you do get wage growth. So, wages are up 0.4% compared to the month earlier, but 3.8% compared to last year, which is higher than average inflation. So, as long as your inflation rate is running about average, you’re doing better than inflation. Unfortunately, a lot of people who have to pay for rent or car insurance or home insurance or various other things have an inflation rate that’s higher. So, this is the kind of employment report you can call good or bad depending on your mood or where you stand.”
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