The latest projections by Moody’s Analytics for monthly job growth still point to a close race for the White House. But the odds of a mini-boom that would help the incumbent have faded.
Reasonably strong private-sector job growth has been offset by government layoffs.
Republicans quickly seized on the disappointing May numbers as fresh evidence of what they say are President Obama’s “job-killing” policies.
The Federal Reserve is the only plausible source of significant government action to bolster the economy in the foreseeable future. Will it decide to take action?
When the jobs market weakened in March and April, economists could tell a sensible story about why the weakening wasn’t as severe as it looked. But you can’t tell that story anymore. For the third straight year, the economy has fallen into a spring slump.
The United States economy gained a net 69,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, a showing that reflected mounting fears of a global slowdown.