From The Wall Street Journal
Fed watch: The 6-month trend shows job creation averaging 160,330 per month since March. That may concern Federal Reserve policy makers ahead this month’s meeting. Some Fed officials have said they want to see steady job creation of close to 200,000 jobs a month before paring back their bond purchases.
Revisions: July’s payroll gain was revised down by 58,000 to 104,000. The June number was also recast lower by 16,000. In total, the economy added 74,000 fewer jobs those months than previously estimated. (August’s figure and the downward revisions put the average monthly payroll gain this year at 180,250, a pace that is now slightly slower than the 2012 average.)
Sectors: Retail trade gained 44,000 jobs; education and health services added 43,000 positions; and manufacturing rose 14,000. Service-producing jobs continued to make up the bulk of the job gains, adding 151,000 positions in the month.
Sequester watch: Federal government employment held flat in August. An increase at local schools helped push up total public sector employment.
Discouraged workers: There were 866,000 discouraged workers in August, nearly unchanged from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are people not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
Broader Measure: The unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers and part-time workers seeking full-time employment fell slightly to 13.7% in August from 14.0% the prior month.
By Eric Morath, WSJ
A downward revision of June and July payroll figures combined with August gains that fell short of forecasts painted a lackluster picture of the jobs recovery over the summer. Meanwhile, the August unemployment rate, measured by a separate survey, fell to 7.3%, a five-year low. Here are highlights from the Labor Department’s report.
Fed watch: The 6-month trend shows job creation averaging 160,330 per month since March. That may concern Federal Reserve policy makers ahead this month’s meeting. Some Fed officials have said they want to see steady job creation of close to 200,000 jobs a month before paring back their bond purchases.
Revisions: July’s payroll gain was revised down by 58,000 to 104,000. The June number was also recast lower by 16,000. In total, the economy added 74,000 fewer jobs those months than previously estimated. (August’s figure and the downward revisions put the average monthly payroll gain this year at 180,250, a pace that is now slightly slower than the 2012 average.)
Sectors: Retail trade gained 44,000 jobs; education and health services added 43,000 positions; and manufacturing rose 14,000. Service-producing jobs continued to make up the bulk of the job gains, adding 151,000 positions in the month.
Sequester watch: Federal government employment held flat in August. An increase at local schools helped push up total public sector employment.
Discouraged workers: There were 866,000 discouraged workers in August, nearly unchanged from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are people not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
Broader Measure: The unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers and part-time workers seeking full-time employment fell slightly to 13.7% in August from 14.0% the prior month.
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