On Friday morning, the Labor Department reported that the USA economy added 151,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent.
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JOBS DATA: The government said US employers added 151,000 jobs in August, a bit less than economists expected.
United States non-farm payrolls figures released Friday showed that 151,000 additional jobs were added to the market last month, missing consensus estimates for a 180,000 rise.
The report also said the unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent in August, unchanged from the previous month.
With the labor market near full employment, a slowdown in job growth is normal. While the U.S.is on a long streak of job growth, reports over the last few months have been inconsistent: growth was weak in April and May, then picked up in June and July.
As far as average earnings are concerned, there was a monthly increase of 0.1% compared with expectations of a 0.2% monthly gain with the annual increase declining to 2.4% from 2.6%.
What’s more, a good portion of the job gains came from government hiring.
The U.S. economy added 151,000 net new jobs in August, below consensus expectations for 180,000. While the labor market as a whole has continued to improve, there are still workers who face added barriers to joining the workforce, leading to persistently higher unemployment rates, lower labor force participation, and lower wages.
The report comes at a critical time as the jobs numbers are being watched closely by the Federal Reserve.
Several analysts believe that the jobs report is strong enough to make a case for a rate hike in September.
Still, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge remains below its target of 2 percent, a trend that may contribute to a delay in the central bank’s resumption of the rate increases it began in December past year.
Average hourly earnings climbed at a 2.4% pace, which was a bit lighter than the 2.5% expected.
USA stocks rose Friday as investors found some positive aspects in a middling employment report. That leaves open the question of whether officials will go ahead with a 0.25-percentage-point increase in the Fed’s target interest rate at their next policy-making meeting later this month. The figures could spark a vigorous discussion between policy makers who see the economy as healthy enough to absorb a rate increase and those concerned about low inflation, middling economic growth and uncertainty from the presidential election and global turmoil.
By contrast, market-based forecasting tools, such as federal funds futures, imply a less-than 25 percent probability of the Fed hiking this month and just over 50 percent by December.
At midmorning, the Dow Jones industrial average added 86.7 points, about 0.5 percent, to 18,502.
This is much less than ADP’s predicted increase of 177,000 jobs the company made on Wednesday.
American employers had kept hiring steady for two straight months this summer, but August saw that decline somewhat, continuing the economy’s consistent but marginal growth. That figure barely rose in the first four years of the recovery but is now up from 53 percent in 2014.
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According to payroll processor ADP, US companies added 177,000 private jobs in August.
