General Discussion

IronLionZion

(45,442 posts) Mon Aug 4, 2014, 05:19 PM Aug 2014

7 reasons the U.S. economy is rock solid

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-reasons-the-us-economy-is-rock-solid-2014-08-04?dist=afterbell

The much-anticipated jobs report for July missed the mark, but there is no reason to be concerned. Long-term labor trends are improving, and economic indicators continue to point higher.

So it’s worth remembering that there isn’t a firm link between economic growth and a rising stock market. Regardless, it is undeniably good for America and U.S. investors to see the economy back on firm footing.

And if you’re still not convinced the U.S. economy is doing well, here’s a short list of reasons that investors and consumers can be confident that the U.S. economy is rock solid:

1. Job market continues to improve: Sure, the latest jobs numbers showed an increase to headline unemployment rate. That’s a bit disappointing because June’s reading of 6.1% showed the lowest level since September 2008, however the 6.2% reading remains the lowest since October 2008. That’s hardly a mammoth change. Furthermore, critics who say the decline in joblessness is because of folks leaving the labor force should note that the labor participation rate actually ticked up slightly.

2. Hope for long-term unemployed: The long-term unemployment rate has finally shown signs that it is declining in earnest. According to a recently released report from the Federal Reserve , the long-term unemployment rate has fallen 0.5 percentage points since the end of 2013, accounting for “almost the entire decline” in the headline unemployment rate. At the same time, the labor participation rate has remained unchanged — so no grumbling about how the shift has been caused by folks dropping out of the workforce, please.