There were two economic headlines on September 4. One was a strong jobs report for August. The other was diesel prices hitting the highest levels ever in the United States.
Which one will get the most attention?
That’s an easy call. Bad news generally gets more attention than good, but more importantly, rising costs and high inflation directly affect millions of Americans every day. Most people don’t fuel their vehicles with diesel, but record-high prices of $5.85 per gallon mean higher prices for food harvested by combines, consumer products delivered by truck, and construction requiring diesel-powered machinery. And gasoline prices, at $4.15 per gallon, remain higher than anybody would like (except oil companies).
CNN invited me on air to talk about the jobs report, which was surprisingly strong: Employers added 162,000 new jobs in August, the most in five months. But that is likely to do President Trump little good, since affordability remains most voters’ top concern.
Here’s the CNN clip. Our monthly charts on the job market follow, with takeaways.
Here’s the overall trend in employment. While job gains were strong in August, there’s been a notable slowdown in job creation during Trump’s second term.