• Employers added 209,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3 percent, according to the July jobs report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Average wages grew 2.5 percent year-over-year, in line with prior months.
• Sectors that saw big job gains in July included food service and drinking places, health care, and professional and business services. Employment in other sectors was largely unchanged.

The American economy seems to be stuck in third gear, turning in performances that are good, but hardly great. Job growth continues to be strong, and the unemployment rate is now about as low as it can reasonably get. Income growth surged in 2015 and 2016, and though it has slowed down slightly this year, it remains stronger than during the early 2010s. The strong labor market is clearly spilling over to the housing market, particularly for renters looking to make the jump into homeownership. National income growth has outpaced growth in median U.S. rents for 14 straight months, allowing renters to save more of their raises to put towards down payments and other buying costs. This is starting to show up in homeownership data, however faintly – in the second quarter, the number of owner households rose by 1.7 percent year-over-year, while the number of renter households fell by 1.6 percent, a reversal of a decade-long trend of higher renter household formation. But while there may be more qualified potential home buyers out there, there are fewer homes for them to buy now than at any point in decades, resulting in intense competition and – perhaps – a feeling among some left-out buyers that they are losing instead of gaining alongside the economy as a whole.