Lotsa Labor

Friday’s jobs report showed a solid gain of 215,000 jobs. That said, the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.9% to 5% because the labor force grew by an even larger 396,000 persons! As a result, the labor force participation rate rose by another 0.1% to 63%, its best level since 3/14 and up from a trough of 62.4% in 9/15, a huge increase. Wages rose a nice 2.3% Y-o-Y.