U.S Jobs Report: Payrolls Disappoint at 142,000 in August, lowest in 8 months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U.S. job creation slowed to its lowest pace of the year in August, a stumble for the labor market that had seen a stretch of steady 200,000-plus gains over the past six months. Non-farm employment advanced a seasonally adjusted 142,000 in August, according to the Labor Department. July’s gain was revised higher to a gain of 212,000 from an earlier estimate of 209,000. June’s gain was revised lower to 267,000 from 298,000. Job growth has averaged 207,00 over the last three months, and 215,000 jobs every month so far this year, which is the best pace of job growth since hiring average 265,000 a month in 1999. The unemployment rate ticked lower to a seasonally adjusted 6.1% from 6.2% in July. Unemployment has fallen 1.1 percentage points since August 2013, when it was 7.2%. A broader measure of unemployment that includes those working part-time but who would like full-time jobs fell to 12% in August from 12.2% in July. The labor-force participation rate fell in August to 62.8%, matching its lowest level since the late 1970s. The rate had ticked up to 62.9% in July. Wage growth showed a slight improvement in August . Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose in August to $24.53, up 6 cents from July and 2.1% from a year earlier. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours for the sixth straight month. In August, professional and business services added 47,000 jobs while employment in health care increased 34,000. Construction added 20,000 jobs, but manufacturing employment was flat after adding 28,000 jobs in July. Car and auto-parts makers lost 5,000 jobs in August. Private hiring increased 134,000 in August, also the smallest gain this year, after an advance of 213,000 the month before. Employment at private service providers increased 112,000, while payrolls were unchanged at factories. The number of long-term unemployed, those out of work for 27 weeks or more, totaled 2.96 million, the fewest since 2.7 million in January 2009. The U.S. dollar declined upon the release of the jobs report, falling as much as 0.20% against the Euro to 1.29874. The Dollar was last down 0.3% at 1.29797.The Dollar Index was last down 0.08% at 83.76, after having hit a low of 81.58. 10-year Treasury yields were last down 3.7 basis points at 2.413%, after having dropped 5.0 basis points shortly after the release. Even with today’s retreat, the U.S. dollar was set to record its longest ever winning streak against the Euro on Friday, as the Euro failed to regain Thursday’s losses. The euro plummeted 1.6 percent on Thursday - its steepest fall in almost three years - to a 14-month low of $1.2920 after the European Central Bank cut rates to new lows and launched an asset purchase program to ward off deflation. It would be the first time the euro has fallen for eight consecutive weeks since its introduction in January 1999. Friday’s numbers will be closely scrutinized as the Federal Reserve has been looking for further evidence that slack in the labor market is being paved away. Still, August is a somewhat a tricky month to calculate hiring in, because historically, fewer households fill out their surveys compared to any other month. Over the past five years, the government’s first and third estimates of job growth have averaged a massive contrast of 77,000 in August. Also, August is one of the months that have high swings during the summer in the job status of some employees such as auto workers or teachers, that can skew seasonal adjustments in the report, and although they could be significant, they are usually temporary. #egyptyard
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 13:29:10 +0000
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