The January report marks the 100th straight month of job gains.
I pointed out back when Obama was in office that the media always reported how surprised economists were that the US economy was not recovering as quickly as they predicted. Here are some by Glenn Reynolds:
- “New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed,” reported cnbc.com May 25.
- “Personal consumption fell,” Business Insider reported the same day, “when it was expected to rise.”
- “Durable goods declined 3.6 percent last month,” Reuters reported May 25, “worse than economists’ expectations.”
- “Previously owned home sales unexpectedly fall,” headlined Bloomberg News May 19.
- “U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April,” wrote The Wall Street Journal May 18.
Now that a Republican is in office, the media remains surprised at the strong economy.
And Bloomberg was off by a factor of two.
The Labor Department released its first monthly jobs report for 2019, showing the U.S. added 304,000 jobs to the economy.
These numbers beat expectations, with Bloomberg economists predicting 165,000 jobs would be added for the month of January.