Is this economy really as good as it gets?

Jobs figures look good, so why do so many Americans still feel so bad?

President Trump.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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"The best economy ever" — according to President Trump — seems to still be humming, said Reade Pickert and Jeff Kearns at Bloomberg. The U.S. added 224,000 jobs in June, the most since January, surprising economists after a disappointing May. Trade uncertainty and a global slowdown has not halted the country's economic expansion. Gains in manufacturing were the strongest in five months. Trump lost no time in boasting about the numbers, tweeting "JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" Indeed, the headline jobs figures might put immediate fears of a recession to rest, said Neil Irwin at The New York Times, but many details paint a gloomier picture: "The progress toward creating an economy that works for more Americans has stalled." Earnings growth has slowed, and the number of employed prime-age workers is dropping. In other words, "employers don't seem to be bidding up the wages to get workers."

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