07/07/2014

CUNA in Forbes.com: Positive job numbers are 'bounce back effect'

 WASHINGTON (7/7/14)--Mike Schenk, interim chief economist and vice president at the Credit Union National Association called Thursday's jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor a "bounce back effect" indicating that consumer confidence is rising.

The jobs report showed the economy added 288,000 jobs in June and that unemployment dropped to its lowest rate since September 2008.

"The first quarter numbers were not all that encouraging, especially in terms of the economic growth numbers," Schenk said. "People seemed to be sitting on the sideline in terms of purchasing behavior. Clearly the consumer is back in the marketplace."

Schenk also mentioned CUNA's latest monthly survey of credit unions, which showed credit unions' loan portfolios increased 1.2%, the largest growth since 2005 ( News Now July 3).

"Consumers are engaged. They are not only buying more, but buying big ticket items so a lot of that pent-up demand is being expressed," he told Forbes . com.

The jobs report also indicated June was the fifth consecutive month with job growth of at least 200,000, and that the jobs created in June mean a total of 9.7 million new private-sector jobs were created over the last 52 months, the longest such streak on record.

According to the department, this is the most total jobs added in the first half of a year since 1999.