By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – It's Friday so, "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not so big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
It was the best news the labor markets heard in a longtime. It's been seven months to be exact since we've seen an increase in new jobs. Every month since January they've been dwindling away. The August number was even revised: we lost fewer jobs than we thought. So the unemployment number for September held steady at 6.1%. I'll take steady any day over higher. But I want to keep this one-month rise in perspective.
Some dwellers on Wall Street still have that we'll-turn-around-on-a-dime mentality. There were 57,000 new jobs in September. The labor market has enough space and should be growing by 300,000 new jobs a month. This morning I actually heard one wise Republican politician (go ahead and giggle) exclaim, "Don't bring out the balloons and champagne just yet - an $11 trillion dollar economy takes time to turn around." We've proven we can be patient. Now we'll have to wait until the middle of the month to see how North Texas fits in the recovery puzzle.
But you can't help noticing a new positive spirit waiting to erupt. The airline industry, which had a great summer, was holding its breath as fall approached. How much of a downturn would they have to take? None, as it was reported September traffic was up from last year. Southwest had double-digit increase from last year. American experienced a small decrease of 1.7% due to canceling of flights and less planes in the skies. But more seats were filled on those planes than were in 2002. I'm just glad to see those upbeat new commercials for American Airlines. Gives me a feeling of well-being.
And I'm not sure what this means, but even Starbucks surprised itself. Same-store sales grew 9% percent over last year. They were expecting maybe 3 to 7%. The largest coffee chain in the world has 7,225 stores on the planet. Things are good.
For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m.
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