One of the U.S. economy's bright spots is the job market — and it may be even brighter than it seems. Not only are there more jobs (1.3 million so far in 2016), but they may be better-paying, according to a new analysis by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Fed economists report that middle-wage workers — earning roughly $30,000 to $60,000 — represent the fastest growing segment of the labor market. By contrast, earlier in the recovery, low-wage and high-wage jobs dominated employment increases.
The labor market was supposedly becoming economically "polarized," just as society was becoming politically polarized. Now, the new analysis suggests that the labor-market polarization "may have peaked, and middle-wage jobs could be ready for a renaissance," as my Washington Post colleague Ylan Q. Mui wrote in a nice blog post on the New York Fed study.
Assuming that the trend lasts through Election Day, it's probably a plus for Hillary Clinton. It doesn't eliminate jobs as an issue, but it blunts discontent. Here's what the New York Fed study reported.