This is a few days late.
- The news release from the Department of Labor.
- Related story in the NYT.
- A compilation of reactions from Andrew Sullivan.
Since this is election season, there's no guarantee that Congress will do anything to remedy this - but the Federal Reserve - unaffected by elections - can.
Ezra Klein:
The question now is whether these numbers will change our economic policy. In Congress, the answer is almost certainly not. So, much as the data makes an overwhelming case for, say, hiring hundreds of thousands of workers to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, or passing a large employer-side payroll tax cut to goose hiring, there’s little chance House Republicans will greenlight either policy response.
But with Congress largely on the sidelines, inflation low, and the labor market recovering, there’s a stronger and stronger case for the Federal Reserve to step in more aggressively. “The big question is whether this is a weak enough report to get the Fed to move,” writes economist Justin Wolfers. “I think it is, and they will.”
