August Jobs Report Leaves the Overall Picture Little Changed
August Jobs Report Leaves the Overall Picture Little Changed
The U.S. economy added 142K jobs in August, but totals for the prior two months were revised downwards by a combined 86K, leaving the overall picture much the same. The labor market has slowed and slackened over the past three months, with job growth in the private sector outside of healthcare and social assistance falling to an unusually slow pace. The 3-month average gain has been just 39.1K, well below the pre-pandemic 2015-2019 average of 137K.
| Change in Private Sector Payrolls, Excluding Health Care and Social Assistance | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month change | 3-month average | 12-month average | 2015-2019 average |
| 73.9K | 39.1K | 79.3K | 137K |
Additional highlights of the report
Flat unemployment, rising underemployment. The reported unemployment rate ticked downwards from 4.3% to 4.2%, but the change in unrounded numbers was almost imperceptible (from 4.25% to 4.22%). Overall employment and underemployment (as measured by the expanded U6 unemployment rate) ticked upwards, however, from 7.8% to 7.9%. The number of people working part-time for economic reasons rose by 264K, and now makes up 3% of employed Americans, the largest share since mid-2021.
Fewer vacations, more childcare problems. Fewer Americans were absent from work due to August vacations than in each of the prior three years, but more were absent from work due to childcare problems than in any prior August on record. Employment in childcare services has grown by a mere 10.6K over the past 12 months, clearly not nearly enough to meet demand.
A lingering tech slump. After initially posting job gains in the back half of the year, the information sector has gone back to posting losses. The sector has now lost 4K jobs over the past 12 months, with the tech turnaround appearing to be in jeopardy.
A retail slowdown. Employment in the retail sector was flat for months, but is now cracking. The sector has lost 56.6K jobs over the past 12 months—a testament to the fact that consumer loan growth is slowing, consumers are becoming more price-sensitive, and retailers are pulling back due to uncertainty about the business outlook.
Take a tour through the Jobs report in ZipRecruiter charts.
