Washington, DC - Friday brought more great economic news: higher-than-expected jobs growth in August, as well as a solid rise in wages - all with unemployment remaining at record lows. Manufacturing activity just hit its highest level since May 2004, and consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. And there’s good reason to think it’ll keep up.
The wage-growth number was the big one: The month saw average hourly wages jump 0.4 percentage points on top of a 0.3 rise in July, making August’s annual wage hike a solid 2.9 percent — the largest since June 2009.
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The US economy is years into recovery, long past the point when most expansions falter.
The difference is that growth was so slow in the Obama years — when liberal economists told America that the “New Normal” was the best anyone could expect. But Team Trump didn’t buy that claim, insisting that a break with Obama-era policies could bring the boom times that mean higher pay and strong job growth.
President Trump delivered that break with a major rollback of regulations and a landmark tax cut, and the US economy is responding — following modest 2.2 percent annual GDP growth in the first quarter with 4.2 percent second-quarter growth.
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