The August jobs report demonstrates that the U.S. labor market is slowing but still healthy.
In August, the U.S. economy demonstrated moderate growth, adding a less-than-expected 142,000 jobs. In addition, downward revisions to June and July equaled 86,000 fewer jobs added than initially thought, reflecting a market that may be cooling faster than expected. Revisions are part of the process; however, revisions have been high this year, suggesting employers may have added 2.1 million new jobs rather than the 2.9 million initially reported. At the same time, modest wage growth and a downtick in the unemployment rate reflected a market that remains solid.
Many economists expect growth to continue but at a slower pace, as the Fed desired. With a cooling but steady labor market and inflation under 3%, interest rate cuts of .25 to .5% may be on the horizon.
The Numbers*:
The U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August, slightly less than the Dow Jones estimate of 161,000. Gains were 28,000 more than in July but far below the average monthly gain of +202,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
The unemployment decreased slightly to 4.2%, driven by a reversal of temporary layoffs in the July jobs report. Though higher, the unemployment rate is still historically low. Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary layoff decreased by 190,000 to 872,000 in August.
There were 7.7M open jobs on the last working day of July, down from a revised 7.9M open jobs in June. The number of job openings in August is the lowest since January 2021 and reflects a market that continues to moderate. The rate of job openings is down 1.1M over the year.
The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.7%, with little change in the participation rate over the year. The number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27+ weeks) remained at 1.5 million, or 21.3% of all unemployed people. The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons (those unable to find full-time work or had their hours reduced) rose to 4.8M, and full-time workers decreased by 438,000. Multiple jobholders increased by 65,000 to 8.5M.
The number of job quits (voluntary exits) in the U.S. edged up to 3.77 million (2.1%) in July 2024 from a downwardly revised 3.214 million (2%) in June, which was the lowest level since September 2020. Quits increased most in private education and health services (54K), manufacturing (25K), government (20K) and information (16K).
- Average hourly earnings increased by 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $35.21.
- Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8%.
- Average weekly hours worked edged up slightly to 34.3 hours per week.
- In manufacturing, the average work week also increased slightly to 40.0 hours.
- Total hires were 5.5M, while total separations were 5.4M.
- Within separations, layoffs/discharges were down 1.5 million.
Industry Trends:
| Industry | August Jobs | Notes |
| Construction | + 34,000 | Well above the 12-month average of 19,000 jobs per month. |
| Health care | + 31,000 | Well below the average monthly gain of +60,000 over the prior 12 months. |
| Manufacturing | - 24,000 | Motor vehicle jobs accounted for a quarter of the losses; however, the jobs are expected to rebound as summer auto manufacturing shutdowns come to a close. |
Worker groups:
The unemployment rate for adult men remained at 4%, while the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.7% for adult women. Also, the unemployment rate among teenagers increased by almost 2 points to 14.1%.
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* Above represents August 2024 Data
Sources:
