Closing post
Time to recap…
The US jobs market stalled over the summer, adding just 22,000 jobs in August and continuing a slowdown in the labor market as businesses adjusted to disruptions caused by tariffs.
The latest jobs report also contained more bad news. The US lost 13,000 jobs in June, according to the latest survey, the first time it went into the negative since December 2020.
The unemployment rate for August inched up to 4.3%, the highest it’s been since 2021.
The healthcare sector added 31,000 last month but most other sectors were flat or lost jobs.
The report highlighted worrying trends:
Federal employment dropped 15,000 jobs in August, totaling 97,000 jobs lost since January.
Manufacturing jobs went down by 12,000 in August and have tumbled 78,000 for the year.
The racial unemployment gap widened in August. Black Americans are seeing an unemployment rate of 7.5%, compared to 6.1% last August. The unemployment rate for White Americans is 3.7%.
Here’s the full story:
August’s jobs report was dragged down by job losses in wholesale trade, manufacturing and energy and mining sectors — industries that are exposed to president’s levies, points out the Financial Times.
“Trade-exposed sectors were obvious victims in this morning’s payrolls report,” said Carrie Freestone, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada.
