Trump Economy: Kicking Ass and Taking Names

The Labor Department released the April data on hiring and unemployment on Friday morning, providing an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the economy.

263,000 jobs were created last month. Analysts had expected a gain of 190,000 jobs, according to Bloomberg.

• The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, the lowest in half a century. The rate was 3.8 percent in March.
• Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent, which follows an increase of 0.1 percent in March. Over the last 12 months, earnings have risen by a healthy 3.2 percent, a hair’s breadth from the best level of the recovery.

This robust growth is another sign that fears of a slowdown have been, as usual, overblown.