Lower-Wage Americans Finally Get Some Relief in the Job Market
- Participation rate jumps for those without high school degree
- Indicators suggest there’s still room for further gains
U.S. payrolls increased in July as employers added 209,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent. Bloomberg Intelligence's Ira Jersey examines market reaction and how the data plays into expectations for the Federal Reserve's rate path. He speaks on 'Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Eight years into the economic recovery, Americans on the lower rungs of the ladder are finally getting some relief in the job market, and there could be more to come.
Underneath a 209,000 gain in July payrolls that was stronger than forecast on Friday, significant shares of job growth were in lower-wage industries such as restaurants and home health-care services. As the overall labor-force participation rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point, the level for people age 25 or older without a high school degree surged to the highest since 2011. In leisure and hospitality, which typically carries lower pay, annual wage gains of 3.8 percent outpaced the average.