After another month of solid job increases in July and a heartening uptick in wages, something else is more likely to rise by the fall: interest rates.
New data from the Labor Department on Friday pave the way for the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2006, economists said.
“The job creation to date is sufficient to give them the green light,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Union Bank in New York, who put odds at about 70% that the Fed raises the rate at its September meeting.