Despite the delta variant surge, the prospect of vaccine mandates, and delays in office reopening, the economy continues to rebound, particularly with job growth.

The jobs report for July was the best in nearly a year. The economy added 943,000 jobs, above the expectation of 850,000. The unemployment rate tumbled from 5.9% to 5.4%. Wages have increased 4% over the past year. Unfortunately, those wage gains have been wiped out by inflation-driven rising consumer prices. As a result, compensation is now lower than in December of 2019 when adjusting for inflation.