Today was, of course, July employment report day, and there is plenty to found by way of commentary among my favorite blogs: pgl at Angry Bear is encouraged, by the net employment growth (207,000), the (slight) rise in the participation rate, and the steady unemployment rate. Mark Thoma opines that "Overall, this is a good jobs report." Barry Ritholtz agrees, but qualifies things a bit more: "good, not great." The Capital Spectator, on the other hand, says the economy is "cookin' with gas." But William Polley is of the opinion that "Most of today's BLS news release was pretty lukewarm." In it all, Russell Roberts sees something of the natural consequences of a reasonably well-functioning market environment. (Growth happens!)
Dean Baker, writing at MaxSpeak, focuses on the wage growth aspect of the report, noting that the market seemed spooked by the sign of accelerating wage growth. That theme was also picked up by MarketWatch:
Of some concern to inflation-minded investors, the report also revealed that average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.4%, to $16.13. It was the biggest gain in hourly earnings in a year.
We should probably put a hold on that thought. Wage increases driven by productivity gains are not associated with inflationary pressures. It's unit labor costs -- or productivity-adjusted wages -- that count. We'll get that report (for the second quarter) next Tuesday, and at that point we will be in a better position to weigh in on whether the labor market is signaling legitimate concerns about potential inflation pressures.
UPDATE: The Big Picture has more on the report: here and here. (The latter is the round-up of commentary compiled at the Wall Street Journal Online.)