Trump Inherits a Better Economy Than Obama in 2008

the unemployment picture looks very different today than it did in 2008 when the US economy was losing thousands of jobs each month back then millions of homeowners were facing foreclosure and the auto industry was in danger of collapse today unemployment is at a 9 year low wages are rising in the construction sector which saw massive job losses during the Great Recession is now growing faster than the overall economy Ken Simonson is chief economist at associated general contractor's of America a construction employment went up by 19,000 in November alone and by a hundred and fifty five thousand over the past 12 months among the best indicators of a healthy job market is increased competition for workers says economist Gus Foshay at PNC Financial Services he spoke with us on skype greater competition for workers businesses are being forced to raise wages and that means more money in consumers pockets the white house has the latest job numbers 178,000 added in november marks the longest streak of job growth in US history but a spokesman for the incoming Trump administration says since 2008 Manufacturing has lost more than three hundred thousand jobs some economists say that may have more to do with automation than actual demand a bigger challenge for manufacturing may be the growing anti-trade sentiment in this country and the president-elect stance on immigration if we want to see sustained economic growth we need to get more workers and they're they're not going to spring up out of the domestic population we do still need immigration challenges aside Foshay says economic indicators suggest a 90% probability of an interest rate hike soon we're seeing inflation pick up a little bit the job market continues to improve a wage growth is accelerating so the Fed wants to be ahead of the curve a majority of economists believe the Fed will raise interest rates by a quarter point when central bank officials meet in mid-december it would be the first rate hike since December of last year Miller saiga VOA news Washington