New job numbers challenge Fed, GOP

Washington

AFTER five years of slow and uncertain recovery, there are clear indications that the American economy is finally gaining momentum. It is not only continuing to add new jobs, but may be starting to create the conditions for what was missing from the numbers until now: An upward pressure on the wages that American workers receive.

According to the much awaited jobs report released by the US Department of Labor last Friday, the American economy created more than a million jobs in the last three months - the most impressive three-month gain in close to 20 years - adding 257,000 new jobs in just January, or an average of 336,000 jobs a month. Revisions to previous months' data indicate that the American economy added 423,000 jobs in November last year, a remarkable number even in comparison to the economic boom years of the 1990s.