The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics today released the latest jobs report and the news is, as expected, relatively good: the recovery continues apace. The economy added an estimated 223,000 jobs in April. The unemployment ticked down very slightly to 5.4 percent, the lowest it has been since spring of 2008. Wage growth and labor force participation also ticked up slightly.
It marks the 62nd straight month of job growth, and in line with predictions from economists.
Economist Justin Wolfer tweeted (lots more of micro-analysis at his twitter feed):
If the economy continues to produce jobs at this rate, the labor market will be back to normal sometime this year. The only question is when.
Net jobs gained under George W. Bush: 1.3 million. Under Barack Obama so far: 7.4 million.
And that job-killing Obamacare? Via Dan Diamond of Forbes, since Obamacare was signed into the law, the private sector has only gained jobs: