The U.S. labor market grew as expected in August as more people entering the workforce pushed the unemployment rate higher last month.
Here are the highlights from the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report released Friday, compared to consensus estimates from Bloomberg.
- Non-farm payrolls: Plus 315,000 vs. plus 298,000 expected
- Unemployment rate: 3.7% vs. 3.5% expected
- Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: Plus 0.3% vs. plus 0.4% expected
- Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: Plus 5.2% vs. plus 5.3% expected
The labor force participation rate in August also registered a notable uptick, to 62.4% from 62.1% the prior month, matching the highest level since March 2020.
Friday’s report showed a modest revision to July’s payroll growth, with the BLS now estimating 526,000 jobs were created last month, down from the 528,000 previously reported. Between revisions to June and July’s figures, there were 107,000 fewer jobs created over those months than initially estimated.
Still, job gains over the last three months have averaged 378,000. In 2019, average monthly job gains stood at 164,000.
Click here to read the full story from Alexandra Semenova at Yahoo Finance.