Wall Street Journal (07/21/13) Ben Casselman

Recent economic and corporate-earnings reports demonstrate that the U.S. has not entered a period of strong, self-sustaining growth. Modest growth is predicted for the second half of 2013, with no large decline in unemployment anticipated. Meanwhile, consumer spending declined in June, particularly in the restaurant sector, which added 150,000 jobs over the past three months.

However, hiring has not diminished; an average of 200,000 jobs per month have been posted since the start of 2013. The hiring demand may come from employers who delayed hiring in 2012 and are now catching up. However, at some point either growth must increase or hiring will decrease.