Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, called Friday’s report “solid.” “That’s the last jobs report of the Obama administration, and we’ve seen more than six years of steady job growth. [Trump to sign executive order calling for rollback of Wall Street reform]The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8 percent, as more people joined the workforce to look for jobs. On the campaign trail and after his election, President Trump questioned the accuracy of the official unemployment rate, calling it "phony" and a "joke." For workers, a strengthening economy also appears to be delivering wage gains, although not as quickly as some economists have expected. However, there is likely still more slack in the labor market than the headline unemployment rate suggests, the note said.

Source: Washington Post February 03, 2017 13:34 UTC