It's easier for the Fed...

...that was MSNBC's chief economic adviser's take on the disappointing job numbers for the month of June.

Friday’s disappointing employment report suggests the economy is cooling from last year’s red-hot pace of growth, making life easier for the Federal Reserve but harder for President Bush and his re-election campaign.

After three straight months of strong employment growth that met or exceeded expectations, the economy added only 112,000 jobs in June, less than half what most analysts were looking for. The report was the latest of several indications suggesting that economic activity slowed sharply in June after a strong spring, although most forecasters said there was little cause for concern.
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One major disappointment in the latest report was that the manufacturing sector, after adding jobs for four straight months, lost 11,000 jobs. Manufacturing jobs are closely watched as a cyclical indicator of the economy’s health and because they tend to pay more than service-sector jobs.

Continued weak job growth could renew the focus on outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the final months leading up to the November election, Horwitz said.

The weakness in manufacturing appears to correlate to more low-wage jobs, according to economists at Wells Fargo. A study by the bank found that 60 percent of net new jobs created since August have been low-wage jobs, defined as jobs with wages below the national median. The remaining 40 percent of new jobs have above-median wages.

Also on Friday, factory orders dropped for a second straight month, with durable goods like cars and computers orders dropping 1.8%.

I'm not an economic expert, but could the fact that only 40% of these jobs are above-median wage jobs lead to a lack of spending power?