FILE- In this May 9, 2018, file photo students and apprentices work in various stages of training to be a line worker at the Duquesne Light Co. training center in Pittsburgh. They are taking part in a partnership training program with the Community College of Allegheny County. On Friday, Sept. 7, the Labor Department reports on job openings and labor turnover for August. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)The pace of hiring in the United States quickened in August, and wages grew at their fastest pace in nine years – evidence that employers remain confident despite the Trump administration’s ongoing conflicts with its trading partners.
The economy added a strong 201,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate stayed at 3.9 percent, near an 18-year low, the government said Friday in its monthly jobs report.
Taken as a whole, the data pointed to a job market that remains resilient even after nearly a decade of economic growth – the second-longest such stretch in U.S. history – and even with tariffs and counter-tariffs on imports and exports looming over U.S. employers that rely on global trade.
The economy is expanding at a healthy pace, fueled by tax cuts, confident consumers, greater business investment in equipment and more government spending. Growth reached 4.2 percent at an annual rate in the April-June quarter, the fastest pace in four years.
“I view this as the strongest job market in a generation,” Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, a career website.