Nerds Unite: The Tweets of Jobs Friday
The Labor Department reported that the economy added a surprising 321,000 payrolls in November.
Good news for the economy means positivity on Twitter.
The Twitterverse blows up in anticipation of and in reaction to the Labor Department's employment report the first Friday of each month, and this morning the circus didn't fail to disappoint after another stellar report. The U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 321,000 jobs in November, well above the median consensus estimate of 230,000. The unemployment and labor force participation rate remained flat at 5.8 percent and 62.8 percent, respectively.
A "blowout," "impressive," "welcome news" and "a knockout" were some of the ways economists described the figures. Responses on the microblog site tell a similar story about how the economy's been advancing in 2014, the strongest year for job gains since 1999.
The timelines of economy-watchers flood with nonfarm payroll guesses under the hashtag #NFPguesses, countdowns until the report's 8:30 release, what-to-expect analyses and more. The uncertainty of the monthly report seems to add to the drama of anticipating it.
And because it's that time, my #NFPGuesses is between negative infinity and all the jobs.
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) December 5, 2014
Then there was the questionably timed – and now-deleted – tweet from Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal.
This morning's flood of excited reactions showed just how surprising yet welcomed the figures were.
Translating the jobs numbers into words: HOLY MOLY. CRIKEY. WHAT A REPORT. THE RECOVERY IS ZOOMING ALONG.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) December 5, 2014
Imma let you finish, household survey, but hourly private sector wage gains are the greatest data point of ALL TIME.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) December 5, 2014
321,000 jobs + gas prices down + #Orion launch ------------------------ = 'Merica
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) December 5, 2014
Today's Emoji Jobs Report: 🏥 - added 28,900 jobs 🏭 - added 28,000 jobs 🚚 - added 16,700 jobs 🍔🍻 - added 26,500 jobs Overall report: 😄
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) December 5, 2014
#JobsReport: Reactions… Wonks "OMG!" The Left "Because Obama!" The Right "In spite of Obama!" Regular people "Meh. At least gas is cheap."
— Robert W. Wishart 深河 (@rwwishart) December 5, 2014
My timeline for the last hour... #jobsfriday pic.twitter.com/3qsVvl3qy4
— Chris Acuff (@cjacuff) December 5, 2014