As the nation continues to watch the devastation from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, there are a couple lighter points that make you smile, if you’re a baseball fan, anyway.  The first is that the Houston Astros beat their in-state rivals, the Texas Rangers 5-1 last night.  The second is that the Astros team owner, Jim Crane, has personally pledged $4,000,000 to aid in flood relief efforts in Houston.  And the third is that the team just picked up star pitcher Justin Verlander from the Tigers.  The team is hiring!

I am not necessarily an Astros fan, but I needed some kind of segue into the boring Jobs Report.  The Unemployment Rate ticked back up to 4.4%, as only 156,000 jobs were created last month.  Wage growth is stagnant at a 2.5% year-over-year increase, and the Labor Force Participation Rate is also stagnant at 62.9%.

Speaking of stagnant (and bad segues), maybe some of that donated money can be used to hire people to get rid of all the stagnant water still flooding the city?