With an expansion entering its eighth year and unemployment below 5%, many economists at the outset of 2017 feared rising wage growth and tight labor markets would cause a dramatic slowdown in employment growth, writes Brian Schaitkin, a senior economist in US economic outlook and labor markets at The Conference Board, in a blog post. However, recent jobs data signal the opposite. Schaitkin says the history of past expansions shows employment growth can slow relative to the top of a job market recovery, but job creation ends up sustaining at quite a high rate — at least until recession alarms start flashing.