(Click play on the video above and read on.)
Go ahead, feel the vibration.
The U.S. economy is chugging along. That might be tough to believe, but it really is. The last few days of data show it. And you should feel good about feeling good about that.
[seealso slug=http://sale-online.click/2014/07/03/unemployment-jobs-june-2014/%5D%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EFriday's jobs report came in slightly below expectations. It's bad to miss expectations, right? Well, it's less bad when the expectations are set a lot higher than they have been since the U.S. and really much of the world began to come out of the economic doldrums
The U.S. added about 209,000 jobs (adjusted for seasonal factors) in July. Consider that the past few months have also shown similar job gains, and that's called a winning streak.
Looks like first streak of 6-straight monthly jobs gains of 200,000+ since 1997— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) August 1, 2014
The jobs report came on the heels of a significant rebound by U.S. GDP in the second-quarter of 2014. The economy grew at an annualized rate of 4%, a nice bounce back after a contraction in the first quarter.
The Financial Times has a nice visual that illustrates just how consistent things have been recently.
First chart on Payrolls growth this month from @fastFT: pic.twitter.com/cfFfmtO9E8— Eric Platt (@EricGPlatt) August 1, 2014
What's particularly encouraging from a broader perspective is that the jobs momentum at this point is as strong as it has been in the post-recovery era.
Avg new jobs per month: 2010: 88k 2011: 173k 2012: 186k 2013: 194k 2014: 229k http://t.co/iZlJo369NQ pic.twitter.com/fEerE4LRXG— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) August 1, 2014
(Now click on this.)
Of course, there are always reasons to worry.
Not every piece of the economy is going gangbusters. One particular area of concern is wages. You deserve a raise right? Well you're far from alone.
If this report changes your view that wages are stagnant, you are doing propaganda wrong pic.twitter.com/kWlkEWVa9G— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 1, 2014
There's no shortage of reasons that economists expect wages to increase in a growing economy, particularly one experiencing the kind of jobs growth we're seeing.
This is one of the things that makes the wage numbers frustrating. Despite things getting better, people aren't seeing it in their daily lives.
Another issue is unemployment. Despite the addition of jobs, there still plenty of people out of work, particularly if you look beyond the basic unemployment rate, which only counts a certain part of the population.
Although. pic.twitter.com/9v4g4eNRtO— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 1, 2014
(OK, last video).
So not everything is perfect. That's something we have to get used to. The recession took a pretty solid bite out of the U.S. economy, one that will probably be felt for decades to come.
But that shouldn't stop you from feeling pretty good about where things are headed. Heck, we're even exporting oil again.
See that green tanker? Today it became the first ship to export U.S. oil in nearly 40 years. http://t.co/VVzmy4t8ub pic.twitter.com/vXyhUCtQti— Dennis K. Berman (@dkberman) July 31, 2014
There are certainly going to be bumps in the road ahead -- massive geopolitical unrest tends not to be great for business -- but you should head into the weekend with your head held high, knowing that the U.S. economy is looking up.