Payrolls in U.S. Rose 142,000 in August, Smallest Gain This Year
By Victoria Stilwell Sep 5, 2014 8:30 AM ET -
Employers added the fewest jobs this year in August, representing a pause in the recent momentum of the U.S. labor market as companies assess the prospects for demand.
The 142,000 advance in payrolls was weaker than the lowest estimate in a Bloomberg survey and followed a revised 212,000 gain in July, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The median Bloomberg survey estimate was for a 230,000 increase. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent in July, reflecting a drop in joblessness among teenagers.
Employers that boosted headcounts in the first half of the year may be more restrained in their hiring as they await even faster economic growth. Federal Reserve policy makers will use today’s report to help discern the extent of slack in the labor market as they pare back record monetary stimulus, while keeping interest rates low at the same time.
“In the coming quarters, we should see some slowing” in payrolls gains,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said before the report. “There still some areas where we’d like to see further improvement” in the labor market, such as the number of long-term employed and the pace of wage growth, he said.
Payrolls estimates in the Bloomberg survey of 91 economists ranged from increases of 190,000 to 310,000 after a previously reported 209,000 July gain. The August advance broke a six-month string of payroll gains of more than 200,000.
The smaller-than-projected increase in payrolls reflected a decline in retail employment and little change at the nation’s manufacturers.
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-05/payrolls-in-u-s-rose-142-000-in-august-smallest-gain-this-year.html
DO SOMETHING!
| 