The U.S. economy added back a greater-than-expected number of payrolls in August and the unemployment rate improved by a larger-than-anticipated margin, as employers continued to bring back workers as virus-related business disruptions abated. Still, the pace of payroll gains slowed relative to recent months.
Here were the main metrics from the Department of Labor’s August jobs report released Friday morning, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Change in non-farm payrolls: +1.4 million vs. +1.35 million expected, vs. +1.7 million in July
Unemployment rate: 8.4 percent vs. 9.8 percent expected, vs. 10.2 percent in July
Average hourly earnings, month over month: 0.4 percent vs. 0.0 percent expected, +0.1 percent in July
Average hourly earnings, year over year: 4.7 percent vs. 4.5 percent expected, 4.7 percent in July
Click here to read the whole story from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.
Labor force participation rate: 61.7 percent vs. 61.8 percent expected, 61.4 percent in July
Even with another month above 1 million, the number of non-farm payrolls added in August has not come close to fully plugging the deficit created during the earlier months of the pandemic. In March and April, non-farm payrolls plunged 1.4 million and then by a record 20.8 million, respectively, in a testament to the devastating blow the virus dealt to the U.S. economy. Payrolls in June had risen by a record 4.8 million, after a gain of 2.7 million in May, leaving the total net jobs lost since March at about 11.5 million.
