The economy of the United States is one of the most powerful economies across the globe. This is perhaps what has birthed a reliable labor market throughout the previous decade. According to analysts and economists, the unemployment rate remained steady even towards the year thanks to an increase of 145,000 jobs towards the end of the year.

However, despite this, there was still a strong feeling that hiring was slow and was at the weakest in 2019 compared to the previous eight years. A report by the Labor Department outlined that only 175,000 new positions were added every month, which is way below the 225,000 positions added monthly in 2018. This further resulted in a decreased wage growth from 3.3% a year earlier to 2.9% at the close of December.

The state of the wages: A measure for Democrats challenging Trump’s administration

“We’re starting 2020 in very good shape… We should see continued economic expansion throughout 2020 driven by consumers.” This was according to Gus Faucher, a chief economist. Julia Pollak, a labor economist, echoed the same sentiments citing, “We have the wind at our backs going into 2020.”

However, despite the positive prospects of a positive 2020, Democratic challengers are already arming themselves with ways of overthrowing President Donald Trump. There are all indicators that they are likely to point to wages. Despite a stable job market, job growth did not show any substantial improvement to the wages. Most industries foresee a still wage competition as the year rolls out.

In 2019, wages rose just by 2.9%. This was disappointing compared to 2018. In the same year, the manufacturing sector suffered the most from trade wars between the US and China, resulting in the shedding of employees.

But the solid hiring is not likely to change the Federal Reserve’s assessment

As the manufacturing sector was laying off staff, the hospitality sector was hiring. However, according to the Federal Reserve, this is not likely to change the fact that the economy is still facing uncertainties. There is a need for a real change; otherwise, the unemployment rate will continue sliding backward.