The Jobs Gap in US – With job growth at a healthy level of 300,000 a month, employment will be back at prerecession levels around the time of the 2016 election

After months of disappointing job reports, the country is finally seeing some promising numbers as the fragile recovery grows stronger. But a number of challenges continue to hold many poor and middle-class Americans back. Here are ten facts to keep in mind for 2015 and beyond.

1. Because the population and labor force are growing, it takes about 80,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with this growth

2. Much more worrisome is the drop in the employment to population ratio, especially among adult men…

5. An unemployment rate of 5.8 percent is an improvement but still too high. In the late 1990s unemployment dropped to a little over 4 percent without leading to more inflation. The Federal Reserve projects that the unemployment rate will fall to roughly 5% by 2017. Whether it does or not will partially depend on debates within the Fed about when to boost interest rates. If job growth stays at a healthy level of 300,000 a month, then employment will be back at prerecession levels around the time of the 2016 election.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Ten Things You Should Know About Jobs | Brookings Institution.