, Columnist
Dark Linings in a Sunny Jobs Report
The labor market is as strong as ever, but beware the expiration date.
It’s not all sunshine.
Photographer: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images
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The U.S. economic expansion that premiered 10 years ago is good but boring, like a long-running TV show past its prime. The latest episode hints at a grand finale down the road, though.
The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs last month, and unemployment tumbled to 3.6 percent, the lowest since Richard Nixon’s first term. Great, but: Yawn! Jobs have grown for 103 straight months now. Under the hood, things were a little grittier. Unemployment fell because 490,000 people dropped out of the job market, which is not a good sign. And wage growth was as dull as ever on this old show.