As Jobs Surge, Hurdles Linger; Dow Tops 17000 as Investors Look Past Recovery's Soft Spots
The U.S. economic expansion is entering its sixth year with the best stretch of job growth in almost a decade. Beneath the shiny exterior, however, lurk soft patches that worry economists and policy makers.</br></br>Investors on Thursday seized on robust jobs numbers--not lingering soft spots--and drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average past 17000 for the first time. The Dow closed up 92.02 points, or 0.5%, at 17069.26 in holiday-shortened trading.</br></br>Overall job growth in June showed businesses gaining confidence and shedding the caution that has defined the labor market in the five years since the recession ended. Employers added 288,000 jobs during the month and unemployment fell to 6.1%, the lowest level since September 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday, pushing the rate closer to what many economists consider full employment.</br></br>Yet those gauges don't capture other weaknesses in the employment spectrum. Nor do those figures explain the mysteries of an economy that has been struggling to gain enough velocity to shake off its many ailments long after the recession ended.</br></br>Consumer spending remains weak, a consequence of a labor market delivering new jobs but skimpy wage growth. And the share of Americans working or looking for work--the so-called labor-force participation rate--is near its lowest levels since the late 1970s, despite steady hiring.