August Employment Report: 142 thousand Jobs, 4.2% Unemployment Rate
by Calculated Risk on 9/06/2024 08:30:00 AM
From the BLS: Employment Situation
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in August, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in construction and health care.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 61,000, from +179,000 to +118,000, and the change for July was revised down by 25,000, from +114,000 to +89,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 86,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.
Payrolls for June and July were revised down 86 thousand, combined.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.In August, the year-over-year change was 2.36 million jobs. Employment was up solidly year-over-year (Although the annual benchmark revision will lower the year-over-year change).
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged at 62.7% in August, from 62.7% in July. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 60.0% from 60.0% in July (blue line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate decreased to 4.2% in August from 4.3% in July.
This was below consensus expectations, and June and July payrolls were revised down by 82,000 combined.
Source link
