The U.S. added 151,000 net new jobs in August 2016 (nonfarm payroll) on a seasonally adjusted basis, shy of the mid-170,000 consensus from economists. In the past 12-months a total 2.447 million net new jobs have been created equating to a 1.72 annual growth rate, essentially unchanged from the prior two months.
Average hourly earnings rose 3 cents in the month to $25.73, up from $25.12 a year ago – a 2.43 percent gain.
While the June net new employment number was restated downwards from 292,000 to 271,000, July employment gains was revised from 255,000 to 275,000.
The following graph shows net job gains for each month last year and year-to-date for 2016. Only March and June in 2016 show a marked gain from the prior year in the total number of new jobs.
The total number of jobs (millions) created in the trailing 12-months are illustrated in the following graph.
Other items in the August 2016 jobs report:
- The number of unemployed rose from 7.77 million in July to 7.849 million in August
- The Number of Persons Unemployed for Less Than 5 Weeks increased from 2.16 million in July to 2.29 million in August
- Long-Term Unemployed (jobless for 27 or more weeks), made up one-in-four of the unemployed (25.6 percent), fell by 14,000 in the month and now totals 2.006 million
- Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate is now 62.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 62.6 percent a year ago
- Employment-Population Ratio is now 59.7 percent versus 59.4 percent a year ago – also unchanged from last month
- Number of Persons Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons (also known as involuntary part-time workers) are individuals desiring full-time employment but either had their hours cut back or cannot find a full-time job), now totals 6.053 million, down from 6.841 million a year ago
- Marginally Attached to the Labor Force (not currently counted in the labor force, want and are available for work and had looked for a job in the prior 12 months) dropped by 99,000 in the past year to 1.713 million. Within that group, 576,000 were classified as Discouraged Workers – persons not currently looking for work because they believe there are no jobs available for them. Discouraged Workers fell by 48,000 in the past 12 months
- Professional and Business Services added 20,000 jobs last month with an average monthly gain of 24,000 in the past year
- Leisure and Hospitality added 29,000 jobs in August and has grown by 418,000 in the prior 12 months equating to a 2.76 percent annual growth rate
- Health Care and Social Assistance employment grew by 14,0000 in the month
- Construction segment saw a decline of 6,000 workers from July to August, but is up 3.09 percent year-over-year having gained 199,000 jobs in the that period
- Government (federal, local and state) added 29,000 jobs in August 2016. In the past 12 months this sector added 164,000 jobs at an annualized growth rate of 0.74 percent
- Retail Trade added 15,100 jobs in August and 293,400 in the past 12-months for a 1.87 percent growth rate
- Mining (includes oil and gas exploration and production) lost another 4,000 in the month, now down 225,000 from the peak in September 2014. The sector has now lost one-out-of every four jobs since the peak, -24.9 percent
To read the entire Bureau of Labor Statistics August 2016 jobs report click http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Ted