The Political Page, Part II, T+168 -- July 7, 2017

From the Drudge Report today:

From The Washington Post today: hiring surged last month in a sign of US economic vitality.

Hiring surged in June in a surprising show of U.S. economic vitality eight years into the recovery from the Great Recession.

Pay gains remain weak, though, a stark reminder of one of the economy’s key shortcomings.

Employers added 222,000 jobs last month, and hiring in the previous two months was revised much higher. Job gains have now averaged nearly 180,000 a month this year, only slightly below last year’s pace.

Unemployment ticked up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent, but mostly for a good reason: More Americans started looking for work, a sign of confidence in the economy. 

Here are the highlights from The LA Times:

• The economy added 222,000 net new jobs, the Labor Department said — the best performance since February and well above analyst expectations.
• The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% from May’s 16-year low, but because more people joined the labor force.
• May’s job growth was revised up to 152,000 and April also was revised up, as part of a gain of 47,000 more total jobs for those two months than initially estimated.
• Wages continued their steady but slow recent growth, increasing 4 cents to $26.25.

From CNBC: US nonfarm payrolls total 222,000 in June; forecast, only 179,000. I guess yesterday's report is so "over."

From CNSnews:

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics also said the number of employed Americans -- which set records in February, March and April -- set another record in June, at 153,168,000 employed.

And the number of Americans not in the labor force -- after four straight monthly gains – dropped a bit to 94,813,000.