U.S. Job Growth Forges On but the unemployment rate rising

[andhra_jp]

The United States added 187,000 jobs in August but the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly, reflecting the impact of high interest rates and the U.S. economy’s gradual cooling from the boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

After a run of 29 months in which job growth never dipped below 200,000, seasonally adjusted, the last three months have all fallen short of that mark.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent from 3.5 percent in July, likely for a good reason: More people started to look for work.

Still, there is no sign of an imminent recession that would result in widespread joblessness, and the August gain was still significantly above the number of jobs required to absorb flow of people into the labor force.

Pay gains are slowing, easing worries on inflation.

American workers got smaller pay increases in August. That could be welcome news for policymakers at the Federal Reserve.

Education and health services continue to dominate job creation, contributing more than half the total growth in August. Leisure and hospitality continues to recover and construction has remained surprisingly robust considering stiff headwinds from high interest rates.