“The U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs in December, smashing expectations for year-end growth, and wages rose 3.2 percent in the year since December 2017 after nearly a decade of tepid improvements, federal economists reported Friday,” per the Washington Post.
The expectations that economists put forth for December jobs? Only about 182,000, just over half what the reality turned out to be.
Unemployment last month did increase slightly, now sitting at around 3.9%, but “[a]ltogether, 2018 was the best year for job creation since 2015. The economy added 2.6 million jobs, and the year closed with a slightly higher labor participation rate: 63.1 percent of Americans were working or looking for jobs in December, up from November’s 62.9 percent.”
Despite these glowing numbers, according to a recent poll done by The Hill, Americans are divided on their expectations for the economy this year . . . and the disagreement seems to boil down along party lines:
“A majority of Republican respondents, or 58 percent, said the economy will improve in 2019.
“Democrats were more inclined to think the economy will worsen, although less than a majority, or 43 percent, said they believed this.”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
