Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in August (+22,000) and has shown little change
since April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The unemployment rate, at
4.3 percent, also changed little in August. A job gain in health care was partially offset by
losses in federal government and in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 27,000, from +14,000
to -13,000, and the change for July was revised up by 6,000, from +73,000 to +79,000. With these
revisions, employment in June and July combined is 21,000 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 by 21 thousand, combined. The economy lost jobs in June.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.
In August, the year-over-year change was 1.47 million jobs. Year-over-year employment growth is slowing.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 62.3% in August, from 62.2% in July. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio was unchanged at 59.6% from 59.6% 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 was increased to 4.3% in August from 4.2% in July.
This was below consensus expectations and June and July payrolls were revised down by 21,000 combined.
I’ll have more later …