Why the latest jobs report should calm fears of stagflation

Man working.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The U.S. Labor Department on Friday released some stellar new jobs numbers, reporting that the U.S. economy added 531,000 gigs in October as unemployment fell to 4.6 percent. Such above-expectations results, argues Neil Irwin for The New York Times, "take the 'stag' out of the stagflation scare."

Despite the country's protracted reopening amid Delta variant-driven chaos, Friday's numbers "present a straightforward, sunny story" — Americans are heading back to work, and fast. Even if its not the "off-the-charts job growth" some would expect, it's certainly not giving way to a period of "stagflation," Irwin argues, or a time when stagnant growth meets higher prices.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.