Reuters reports that:
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose to a five-month high last week.
But this is, somehow, not such bad news. Nothing to see here, folks, since:
… this likely does not signal a deterioration in the labor market as the underlying trend remained consistent with tightening conditions.
And there are still:
… hopes that labor market tightness will spur faster wage growth and gradually push inflation toward its target.
There was a time, not so long ago, when inflation didn’t have to be pushed and an increase in the number of people filing for unemployment was considered, at the very least, not-very-good news.
But there was a time, too, when 2 percent growth was considered weak-to-anemic, as was a labor force participation rate of less than 63 percent.
Welcome to the new good/hard times.
