Solid US job gains - a stronger recovery? Celebration in Burger Flipper Paradise!

From the Associated Press:

The 5-year-old U.S. recovery is gaining momentum from a surprisingly robust job market and moving the economy closer to full health.

Employers added 288,000 jobs in June and helped cut the unemployment rate from 6.3 percent to 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. (6 Years Ago!)

It was the fifth straight monthly gain above 200,000 - the best such stretch since the late 1990s tech boom. (15 YEARS Ago!)

The stock market signaled its approval. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 92 points to top 17,000 for the first time...

Over the past twelve months, the economy has added nearly 2.5 million jobs - an average of 208,000 a month, the fastest year-over-year pace since 2006....(8 YEARS AGO!)

One key challenge is whether the job gains will pull more Americans back into the workforce.

Many people who lost jobs during the recession and were never rehired have stopped looking for work.

Just 62.8 percent of American adults are working or are looking for a job, compared with 66 percent before the downturn.

The number of long-term unemployed has dropped 1.2 million over the past year to just under 3.1 million. (Don't forget Congress stopped unemployment welfare for long term unemployed last year.)

But the government data suggests that numerous people without jobs have given up their searches - a trend that could drag on future U.S. growth.

And average pay has grown just 2 percent a year during the recovery, roughly in line with inflation and below the long-run average annual growth of about 3.5 percent... (Over 40% LOWER rate of growth than normal!)
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Link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-04-00-02-27