Trumped Up Economy is Greatest in a Generation

The United States economy, job market, wages and optimism have absolutely taken off the past two years!

The best news is that people of all income levels are prospering!

Let’s all celebrate together…..

It’s time to cut through the noise and look at some facts:

Economic Growth

• • 4.2 percent growth in the second quarter of 2018.

• For the first time in more than a decade, growth is projected to exceed 3 percent over the calendar year. I knew this was still possible.

Jobs 

Fantastic figures for citizens of all ethnicities and all income levels.

• • More Americans are employed now than ever before in our history.

• • Jobless claims at lowest level in nearly five decades.

• • The economy has achieved the longest positive job-growth streak on record.

• • Job openings are at an all-time high and outnumber job seekers for the first time on record.

• • Unemployment claims at 50 year low

• • African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American unemployment rates have all recently reached record lows.

    • • African-American unemployment hit a record low of 5.9 percent in May 2018.

    Hispanic unemployment at 4.5 percent.

    • Asian-American unemployment at record low of 2 percent.

• • Women’s unemployment recently at lowest rate in nearly 65 years.

  • Female unemployment dropped to 3.6 percent in May 2018, the lowest since October 1953.

• • Youth unemployment recently reached its lowest level in more than 50 years.

    • July 2018’s youth unemployment rate of 9.2 percent was the lowest since July 1966.

• • Veterans’ unemployment recently hit its lowest level in nearly two decades.July 2018’s veterans’ unemployment rate of 3.0 percent matched the lowest rate since May 2001.

• • Unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma recently reached a record low.

• • Rate for disabled Americans recently hit a record low.

• • Blue-collar jobs recently grew at the fastest rate in more than three decades.

• • Poll found that 85 percent of blue-collar workers 68 percent reported receiving a pay increase in the past year.

• • Last year, job satisfaction among American workers hit its highest level since 2005.

• • Added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election.

• • Manufacturing employment is growing at its fastest pace in more than two decades.

• 100,000 new jobs supporting the production & transport of oil & natural gas.

American Income

• • Median household income rose to $61,372 in 2017, a post-recession high. THIS IS MY FAVORITE STATISTIC – RISING TIDE LIFTING ALL BOATS!

• • Wages up in August by their fastest rate since June 2009.

• • Paychecks rose by 3.3 percent between 2016 and 2017, the most in a decade.

• • Council of Economic Advisers found that real wage compensation has grown by 1.4 percent over the past year.

• • Some 3.9 million Americans off food stamps since the election.

• • Median income for Hispanic-Americans rose by 3.7 percent and surpassed $50,000 for the first time ever in history.

    Home-ownership among Hispanics is at the highest rate in nearly a decade.

• Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels ever recorded.  REALLY GREAT NEWS!

• • Manufacturers are more confident than ever.

    • 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future, the highest ever.

    • Manufacturing Jobs since the start of 2016 up 378,000

    • Net loss of 303,000 prior 8 years

• Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.

Opinion:

There are quite a few reasons for this economic surge including:

• Friendly economic environment for business industries:

  • Energy

  • Manufacturing

  • Financial

• Corporate tax cuts – businesses keep more of what they make – them millions of workers were       given pay raises or bonuses with a portion of corporate tax savings
• Massive deregulation – savings for corporate America driving growth and earnings
• Better trade deals with foreign countries
• Tax cuts for individuals– 90% of taxpayers expected to pay less federal income tax – (more take home pay)

There are more reasons for the huge economic uptick, but these are the big ones as I see it.

This is not about politics, but rather economic policy. Many well intentioned leaders of both parties were not able to create this economic impact over the past 30 years.

As Americans, we should be cheering for all of our citizens and happy the economy is rolling the way it is these days.

My next blog post will focus on the impact this may have on your investment portfolio.