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| A worker on the site of luxury condos being built in Miami. In March the proportion of Americans in the labor force crept up slightly to 63 percent — the highest level in two years. Oscar Hidalgo for The New York Times |
NY TIMES
Companies have been hiring in recent months at a pace not seen before in this century. Wages are rising faster than inflation. Joblessness is hovering near the low levels last reached in 2007 before the economy’s downturn.
And perhaps most significantly, the army of unemployed people who gave up and dropped out of the job market is not only looking for work, but actually finding it.
The 215,000 jump in payrolls in March reported by the Labor Department on Friday capped the best two-year period for hiring since the late 1990s, while the proportion of Americans in the labor force — which had been on a downward trajectory since 2001 and an even steeper slide since 2008 — hit a two-year high.\
To be sure, the damage from the financial crisis and the severe recession it spawned is still not fully healed. Even with improvement of the past six months, the proportion of Americans in the labor force remains significantly below where it was when the recession began at the end of 2007.
“The labor force in the last few months has seen significant gains,” said Claire McKenna, senior policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for lower-wage workers. “Things are moving in the right direction, but very slowly.”
The American economy still faces fundamental headwinds that are not likely to abate soon — like a persistent trade gap, low productivity and the long-term erosion of factory jobs that provide an economic lifeline to workers without a college degree.
But the steady expansion of the work force and the signs that a tightening labor market is finally translating into wage gains could ease some of the economic anxiety that has marked the primary season for Republican and Democratic candidates alike.
The 215,000 jump in payrolls in March reported by the Labor Department on Friday capped the best two-year period for hiring since the late 1990s, while the proportion of Americans in the labor force — which had been on a downward trajectory since 2001 and an even steeper slide since 2008 — hit a two-year high.\
To be sure, the damage from the financial crisis and the severe recession it spawned is still not fully healed. Even with improvement of the past six months, the proportion of Americans in the labor force remains significantly below where it was when the recession began at the end of 2007.
“The labor force in the last few months has seen significant gains,” said Claire McKenna, senior policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for lower-wage workers. “Things are moving in the right direction, but very slowly.”
The American economy still faces fundamental headwinds that are not likely to abate soon — like a persistent trade gap, low productivity and the long-term erosion of factory jobs that provide an economic lifeline to workers without a college degree.
But the steady expansion of the work force and the signs that a tightening labor market is finally translating into wage gains could ease some of the economic anxiety that has marked the primary season for Republican and Democratic candidates alike.