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[CLASSROOM CHATTER]
America's jobs recovery remains in high gear. The economy added 209,000 jobs in July according to the Labour Department. That's more than Wall Street forecasts, which were for 180,000 posts. On top of that, June's non farm payrolls number was revised higher to 231,000 from the previous estimate. And unemployment slid down to 4.3% from 4.4% in June. What's encouraging about these numbers is also an increase in the labour force participation rate. That suggests that more people are being pulled off the sidelines and into the active labour force. What's less encouraging is the wage performance. While wages were up on a month by month basis, the annual rate of wage growth was just 2.5%, meaning there's still no sign of an acceleration. The Federal Reserve has been looking for a comeback in wage growth as part of its justification for raising interest rates. But as things stand, the US remains stuck in its low wage growth, low inflation conundrum. Sam Fleming, Financial Times, Washington DC.
