As Ramesh reported, the economy added 144,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August with the unemployment rate falling to 5.4 percent, its lowest level since October 2001.
Some more jobs details: The latest payroll jump is the most since May, is the first acceleration in hiring in 5 months, and marks the 12th straight month that payroll jobs have climbed. July payroll numbers were also revised upward from 32,000 to 73,000.
Election-year trivia: The unemployment rate at the same time in 1996 while Clinton was running for his second term was 5.1 percent — 0.3 percent lower than it is today (although by the end of that year the rate had climbed to 5.4 percent, just where it is today).
Assessment of the latest jobs numbers: Fine. Bush should talk the rate (which is historically low); the media will talk the payroll numbers (overlooking the Labor Department’s household survey, which according to our David Malpass is “more representative of the economy than the [payroll] survey”); and the Kerry camp will continue to call all job increases “unacceptable,” will discuss jobs lost since Bush took office (and weathered the Clinton recession, 9/11, corporate scandals, and the war on terror), and will never mention the unemployment rate. (NRO Financial’s Jerry Bowyer has pointed out that “the nation has historically focused on the unemployment rate when it comes to measuring the health of the jobs market.”)
Early jobs buzz: The financial press is having trouble spinning this one negative. Their best thumbs-down talking point is that the payroll figure is lower than the consensus estimate (which was only a few jobs away at 150,000). Some are even saying that the latest Labor Department figures are a sign that the economy is pulling out of its summer slump.
Final overall assessment: Bush can ride this.